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DEMOCRACY VINDICATED 



AND 



DORRISM UNVEILED. 



.0/ hY DEXTER RANDALL. 



PROVIDENCE; 
PRINTED BY H. H. BROWN. 

iS46. 



DEMOCRACY VINDICATED 

AND 

DOimiSM UNVEILED. 



»' Oh ! Sir, to wilful men, 
The injuries that they upon themselves procure, 
Must be their schoolmasters." 



TO THE LEGITIMATE DEMOCRACY of RHODE-ISLAND 
Fellow-Citizens, 

The peculiar aiid unsettled condition of our political affairs, result- 
ing from an indulgence of the fatal errors, and the prosecution of the 
ill-advised measures, which have for the last few years, and still con- 
tinue to interrupt private and public tranquillity — has induced me to 
address, once more, my Fellow-Citizens, and especially the legi- 
timate Democracy, with whom I have so long labored in the noble 
struggle of sustaining true Republican principles. My apology for 
this, will be found in an earnest desire to correct, by unveiling the 
source of those errors, and exposing the fallacies of those measures, 
and to enable all to shun and avoid the dangerous and pernicious 
consequences of similar ones, in the future. 

No one of ordinary observation can escape from the ap- 
palling spectacle, which everywhere meets the view, of opposite 
FACTIONS, coalescing together — each seeking to circumvent the 
other — SOCIETIES rent, by political sch'isms and excited feel- 
ings — PUBLIC OPINION diseased, by the contagions of new 
heresies — interchanges of social and Christian charities para- 
lized — CURRENTS of justice in our judicial forums and trials hy 
juries swayed by partisan prejudices and discipline — apostacy 
invited and rewarded — old friends denounced — new ones idolized — 
CLIQUES, of despicable tendencies, predominant — incompetent par- 
TizANs promoted — insubordination encouraged and patronized — 
MAN-WORSHIP substituted for principles — " ancient land- 
marks" of parties obliterated — Public Presses subsidized and de- 
graded. These, Fellow-Citizens, are some of the deplorable re- 
sults entailed upon our community, by the prosecution of measures 
alike incompatible with the civil institutions, and forbidden by the 
laws and constitution of our common country. 

Nor is it less to be regretted, that unscrupulous demagogues 
and EAGER aspirants to distinction, instead of directing their ef- 
forts to reform such abuses, and to check their pernicious influences. 



hare craftily availed themselves of these unhealthy and feverish' ex- 
citements, to achieve the selfish objects of their ambitious aspira- 
tions. This developement oi' indulged caprices and licensed pcrjidies 
of frail humaniUj, but too strongly proves the existence of those 
easy virtues, which are ever found too feeble to restrain men from 
abjuring principles they formerly cherished — and embracing to-day 
political and opposite sects, they yesterday abhorred and despised ! ! ! 
From the prevalence of such devastating influences, factions of 
extraordinary contrarieties, have grown up in our State — assumed 
the name, without its principles, and prostituted DEMOCRACY to 
purposes it never recognized, and which it reprobates and discards. 
It becomes necessary, therefore, to distinguish these purposes from 
legitimate Democracy. This distinction deserves candid attention 
and careful scrutiny. I invite both, that if found erroneous, it may 
be corrected. My object and aim will be to vindicate the one, and 
to expose the fallacies and dangers of the other. The natural dis- 
tinction, and for clearness I adopt it, presents unadulterated de- 
mocracy on the one hand — and that isolated and strange anom- 
aly, in our Republican system of government, christened DORR- 
I3M, on the other. These differ as Christianity and Paganism. 

DISTINCTION. 

DEMOCRACY reveres and 
obeys Constitutional enactments. 

For redress of political wrongs, 
IT resorts to the consti|uted au- 
thorities — failing there — to rea- 
son and to the Ballot Box. 

To accomplish its purposes, IT 

ENFORCES PEACEABLE and AVOIDS 
FORCIBLE MEASURES. 



IT RECOGNIZES measurcs, not 
men. 



DORRISM rejects and diso- 
beys them. 

IT CONTEMNS " constituted au- 
thorities," RESORTS to the pas- 
sions of the Masses — avoids the 
Ballot Box, until compelled to 
accept it. 

It invites, employs and en- 
forces FORCIBLE, and obstinately 

avoids PEACEABLE MEASURES. 

IT WORSHIPS 3IEN DISCARDS 

MEASURES. 



By not attending to this distinction, and the evidences on which it 
rests, fallacious a?id erroneous opinions, both at home and abroad, 
have been imbibed, fostered and extensively circulated by ambitious 
men, seeking to promote their own aggrandizement, that DEMOC- 
RACY and DORRISM are synonimous and inseparable. A great- 
er or more mistaken opinion never prevailed on any subject. 

Tried by the laws and constitution of the nation — weighed in the 
scale of the solemn and reciprocal duties and obligations, existing 
between State Governments, and the National Government — and the 
restrictions imposed upon State sovereignty by that Instrument, 
DORRISM will be found to be a defenceless mass of absurdities 
and CRIME. 

It is time some effort was made to correct these opinions, to res- 
tore a healthful consideration, and to dissipate the factitious delusions 
they perpetuate. So long as they exist, designing men, for want of 
individual merit, will make them the pretexts of action, for their own 
elevation, irrespective of public tranquillity. 

I am aware that any effort of mine, will be deemed by the preju- 
diced and deluded victims of these opinions — vain and idle, and be 



Hltributed to sinister motives. So deeply rooted are the prejudices 
and obstinate tendencies of such, that reason and argument with 
them, have but little if any influence. By an improper use, " pearls" 
are spoiled ! Tlic :ipi)robation of such is not expected, their cen- 
sures not regarded ! The approval of the moderate and judicious 
portion of my fellow-citizens is alone valuable. 

When therefore the fads, circumstances and reasons applicable to 
the Mr, A\s, COURSE and measures adopted and pursued in 1842, to 
" establish and carry into effect," the People's Constitution, and 
Government organized under it are stated, candidly and dispassion- 
ately considered, I am persuaded these erroneous opinions will yield 
to the "sober second thought," and patriotic consideration with utter 
astonishment that they have ever been indulged. 

It is essential to a rightful understanding of those measures, and 
of the true character of Anomalous Dorrism, to recur summarily to 
the events anterior to that period. 

ORIGIN OF THE SUFFRAGE PARTY— DORRISM UNKNOWN. 
DEMOCRACY ACQUIESCES. 

In 1840-41, a numerous body of citizens, composed chiefly of non- 
freeholders, organized a Suffrage Association, whose objects w^ere 
an enlargement o{ the right of Suffrage — an equality of representa- 
tion, and the institution of a Constitutional Government, to secure 
more effectually these rights, and to define and limit its legislative 
powers. 

The earlier movements of this Association, were characterized 
with moderation, great caution and prudence . The idea of resort- 
ing to violent and /ort/iZe measures, was never entertained, nor were 
political sects countenanced, (See Newport Resolutions.) The 
Democratic Party approving the objects avowed in this Association, 
generally gave them their aid and support. By this aid, the propo- 
sed plan of reform became extensively popular. 

Thomas W. Dorr, in the early stages and during the incipient 
progress of these events, was not known ; even considered unfavora- 
bly inclined towards them. He belonged to none, and was then a 
discarded member of the old Federal party. Not until a late period 
when popular opinion strongly favored the objects of the Association 
was he admitted to jiarticipate in them at all. The lamentable re- 
sults which followed, but too plainly show, it would have been far more 
fortunate for all concerned, and for the tranquillity of the State, if he 
had never been suffered to mingle in their councils and to direct 
their acts. 

A Convention of the People was finally called, by the Association 
and its friends, a constitution formed and claimed to be adopted by a 
majority of the adult males of the State, in manner therein provi- 
ded. In the formation of that instrument, it is true he assisted, but 
was far less distinguished than many other prominent individuals of 
the convention. This is shown by the fact, that three other gentle- 
men were successively elected and put in nomination as candidates 
for the Chief Magistracy, all of whom declined. 

From necessity rather than choice, he became the fourth selection 
of the Convention. Indeed he manifested no little displeasure, that 
he was not the first selected, and adrohly maneuvered to procure the 



6 

declination of Gen. Carpenter, the first candidate selected, who was 
not a member, on the pretext that Whig Suffrage men could not 
be prevailed upon to support a democrat. Such were the circum- 
stances under which he became the candidate for the Chief Magis- 
tracy. The limit of his popularity is also shown by the fact, that 
although unopposed, he received only about half tlie number of votes 
given for the Constitution ! Up to this period, it will be seen that, 
such a strange anomaly in our civil institutions, as DORRISM, was 
unknown, and had no existence whatever. 

ITS ORIGIN. 

After the Convention, and his nomination, its premonitory symp- 
toms began to develope themselves. The assemblages of the masses 
assumed a more threatening character, and their resolutions breath- 
ed a higher tone of action. Forcible measures were openly intimated 
and boldly recommended, in case the Charter Government should re- 
sist the establishment of the Constitution & government to be formed 
under it. Intemperate harangues, addressed to their passions, were ut- 
tered by the new batch of liberty orators, the crisis produced. Any 
and all resistance was defied and menaced with physical punish- 
ment. Heated appeals and passionate allusions to the examples of 
patriotic valor of our ancestors, in the early stages of the revolution, 
were freely indulged, to excite and kindle a warlike fervor. 

To these, succeeded military preparations and organized arm- 
ed forces. These unequivocal acts approved and encouraged by him, 
entirely changed the peaceable measures by which the Suffrage and 
Democratic parties sought to accomplish their purposes. They in- 
duced reflection, and converted friends to the cause, into opposers 
of the measures pursued to sustain it. 

At tliis crisis, the Charter Government becoming alarmed at this 
new aspect of the Suffrage Party, with the intention of checking 
these violent proceedings and preventing an election of officers un- 
der the Constitution, passed the famous act, familiarly called the 
" Alger ine Law." It failed in its objects. An election notwith- 
standing, in which the Democracy and myself participated, was had, 
which resulted in a choice of Dorr for Governor. 

At the inauguration, a military escort, in warlike costume, and of 
an imposing aspect, appeared, and actually supervised with arms and 
munitions of war in their hands, the organization of the new Gov- 
ernment. These unusual displays, attended with expressions of dire- 
ful intent, were but the shadowing forth of ulterior results. 

Inaugurated and qualified, as Commander in Chief, he usurped su- 
preme control, advised and directed all subsequent acts of a hostile 
nature,upon his own responsibility, as will be seen hereafter. Coun- 
tenanced by a few misguided devotees, he erroneously claimed the 

HIGH TREROGATIVE OF RIGHT, TO ESTABLISH THE CONSTITUTION IN 
FACT, AND TO PROTECT THE GOVERNMENT BY FORCE ! 

This unwarranted assertion of right, and its indefensible subse- 
quent execution, were the fatal errors which overturned and pros- 
trated both. Errors, in which he obstinately persists, and which his 
pretended admirers for selfish purposes, and their imported orators 
from sister states, my friends Hallet, Wright, Rantoul and others, 
have inconsiderately sustained and enforced, in strains of impassioned 
eloquence. This was the origin of Dorrism. 



THE COURSE DEMOCRACY ADVISED. 

We of the Democratic party, believing in tlie soundness of tli(* 
JDemocratic principle, that the People, in their original inherent sov- 
ereignty, have the uncontrollable right to form and adopt a Repub- 
lican form of Government — urged him to dispense with all forcible 
jneans— to adopt the course and appeal to that Tribunal designated 
by the Constitution of the United States. While we cherished and 
sustained this right, we denied and still deny the prerogative ; Dorr 
assumed to establish his Government by a resort to force. We 
thought and still think, the course and authority he ought to have 
pursued, and resorted to, is contained in Art. 4, Sec. 4 of that in- 
strument. — viz : 

" The United States Shall guarantee to each State in this Union, 
a Republican form of Government, and shall protect each one of 
them against invasion ; and on application of the Legislature, or of 
the Executive, (when the Legislature cannot be convened,) against 
domestic violence." 

These powers arrest Dorrism upon the threshold, and 7)iakc it an 
HIGH OFFENCE. Whocvcr wish to review the errors they have so 
long indulged, are respectfully requested to consider candidly a few 
of the reasons for our opinions, which I have space only to state. 

NEW POWERS. 
Reason I. The National Constitution created a new Union of the 
original States — anew National Government — and superceded those 
under the Confederation. It clothed if self with new powers, suffi- 
cient to enforce its own authority, and to compel obedience to its 
own laws, which the old government was found incapable of doing, 
from the want of necessary powers. In this section, the "guaran- 
tee" and ruoTECTioN " against domestic violence," are new powers, 
each capable of enforcing its own authority, and of compelling obe- 
dience. The second, " against invasion," is substantially the same 
as that in Article 3d of the Confederation. 

HOW EXECUTED. 

Reason 2. The difference of the ^roof, or events, on which their 
execution depends, is of the utmost importance to a rightful under- 
standing of the obligations, these powers impose upon the United 
States, and of the obligations and restrictions they impose upon each 
State. On an " invasion," the interposition of the " United States" 
becomes obligatory upon the fact itself As under the confederation, 
it means a foreign " force offered to, or attacks made upon" a State, 
of which the Government is deemed to have notice. 

The execution of the "guarantee" depends u\)on an application 
of memorial to the U. States, of a party-state government, while in be- 
inor of one of the oricrinal States, askino- them to establish or guarantee 
the Republican Constitution and Government she has formed and 
adopted, as anew State is obliged to memorialize and apply to Con- 
gress under another grant. " Congress may admit new States into 
the Union ;" Hence every admission is a legislative execution of the 
" guarantee" of a Republican Government to the State admitted. 

The execution of the power to " protect against domestic violence" 
depends also upon an application of a party State, and upon the spe- 
cific mode of proof of the existence of violence, prescribed in this 



8 

section. While the guarantee upon such an application may be ex' 
ecuted or refused by Congress, as it may adjudicate, yet upon siich 
an application and proof, for protection from violence, to the Exec- 
utive of the Union, he can neither adjudicate, hesitate, nor refuse 
protection. The obligation of the National Government, as in a case 
of n?yas/oH, then becomes peremptory. His own obligation to de- 
fend the Constitution and to enforce the laws, especially of 1795 and 
of 1807, passed in pursuance of another grant specially to Congress, 
" to provide for calling forth the militia to execute the laws, to sup- 
press insurrections and repel invasions," as well as his oath of office, 
leave him no alternative : he must interpose ( the energies of the 
United States to suppress and protect against it. 

DESIGN OF THE GUARANTEE. 

Reason 3. A central and supervisory government had just been 
erected upon a Republican platform. The Charter, government of 
each State was then exercising legislative functions, by no authority, 
other than by the sufferance or acquiescence of the people. The rea- 
son for this grant cannot be mistaken. Its design was,;to institute 
and preserve a symmetry of governments in all the States, and be- 
tween them and the central government, and to enforce uniformity 
oi Republican institutions in all, and to compel the obedience and 
acquiescence of each and all. It is the ke}/-litik in the chain of our 
Union, and preserves the whole fabric from disruption. Impair and 
destroy it, and the supervising power of the National Government 
over this uniformity and obedience, is annihilated. There is no 
check upon them — no power to compel their acquiescence. Licen- 
tiousness and insubordination will soon absorb regulated freedom. 

EVENT CONTEMPLATED. 

Reason 4. It applied only to the original States that conferred it, 
leaving its execution also to be enforced in the admission of new States. 
The event contemplated by this grant, and on which its prospective 
execution was to attach, under the then condition of the Colonies or 
States, was and is; a controversy between two opposing Gov- 
ernments IN ONE of the original StATES, EACH CLAIMING AND 
asserting lawful AND RIGHT^'^UL SUPREMACY. An EVENT, the 

wisdom of the Convention foresaw, was probable to occur, on the 
States' forming and substituting Republican, in the stead of their old 
Charter governments, which they had so long permitted and suffered 
to exercise legislative functions. In other words, when the people 
of an original State, in the exercise of their reserved sovereignty, 
with or without permission, should have formed a Republican gov- 
ernment, and the Colonial or CZ/or^fr Legislature should oppose and 
resist its establishment. 

The precise event R-hode-Island presented in 1842 ! ! 

She is an original State, and since the 4th of .luly, 1776, her colo- 
nial government has been preserved alone by the sufferance and ac- 
quiescence of her people ! It is not pretended, that the people, at any 
time since Nov. 24, 1G63, have ever " gathered together" — re-opened 
the " lirccious box" that still contains its remains (except to celebrate 
its funeral ceremonies. May 3, 1843) and renewed their ratification 
of it. No "George Baxter" has ever unfurled its "Majesty's 
stamp and broad seal," and " with much becoming gravity," be- 



" ri:ad'^ the " gracious letters patent," and " presented them to the 
perfect vl^w of the people," for their re-adoption ! She was the 
nourished child, the licensed Legislature, that " brccithed, moved and 
had its being," bj the sufferance and acquiescence of the people, 
possessing no power to be asked, or if asked, none to grant permis- 
sion ! With all its faults, I would welcome the old Charter again into 
existence ! ! ! Though last to accede to the Union and consummate 
this power, yielded by all the other States, by her ratification of the 
Constitution in 1790, she was the first and only State, in which the 
contemplated event, demanding the execution of the guarantee, ever 
occurred ! 

OBLIGATIONS AND RESTRICTIONS. 

Reason 5. The grants of these new powers impose obligations 
and duties upon the U. S. which they cannot disregard or neglect — 
duties and obligations to the U. S. and restrictions and prohibitions 
upon the States, which they are not at liberty to o/nit, transgress nor 
disregard, without violating the Constitution they have established. 

The duties and object of the " Guarantee," compel its execution 
to an original State, when a proper subject and proper application to 
the proper department of the Government on which its execution de 
volves — are presented and made. What is this department? 

THE LEGISLATIVE, NOT THK JUDICIAL POWER. 

Reason 6. An opinion entitled to great respect prevails, that the 
execution of this grant belongs to the judicial power, either solely or 
concurrently with Congress, or the Legislative power. I do not so 
understand it. Being in its nature, a political and not a judicial 
power, and being a General Grant to the United States — its execu- 
tion to one of the original States, must necessarily devolve on Con- 
gress, among other General Grants, not otherwise assigned to any one 
department, or officer of the Government, by Art. 1, Sec. 1 — "All 
Legislative powers herein granted, shall be vested in the Congress of 
the Uiiited States." This construction is strengthened by the fact, 
that it is not otherwise assigned, and by the great reason for the 
Grant itself. 

Its immense magnitude, required a depository of efficient capabil- 
ity to execute it, otherwise it would prove ineffectual. Its execution 
necessarily implies, (if need be) the exertion of the whole physical 
energies of the entire Union. The legislative power alone com- 
mands and exerts the energies of the Nation. It was left among the 
General Grants, to be exercised and executed by Congress alone. — 
It cannot be, that its execution devolves upon the judicial depart- 
ment solely. For although the judiciary may adjudicate upon the 
abstract right, or on subjects resulting therefrom, they cannot com- 
mand the energies to enforce their decision, without the intervention 
of Congress. Nor can it safely depend upon a concurrent jurisdic- 
tion of the Legislative and judicial powers. For then, the Grant 
might be rendered imoperative and ineffectual by a conflict of opin- 
ion between them. The judicial powers are specifically defined, and 
their jurisdiction is restricted to the subjects enumerated in the Con- 
stitution. 

A controversy between opposing Governments of a State, for su- 
PREMAcy or any other object, is not an enumerated subject assigned 
2 



10 

to the judicial department, and, therefore, not within its juris- 
diction. The nearest approach to it, is, a controversy " arising 
in law or equity between two or more States." This falls far short of 
the event that occurred in Rhode Island. That was a political con- 
troversy, strictly between opposite parties of citizens of the State, 
which the Constitution excludes from the judicial, and assigns to the 
legislative power. 

Congress then is the department, the tribunal, the umtire, on 
which the exercise and execution of tiiis Grant, and an adjudication 
upon the occurred cvc?it and all its attendant incidents devolves. — 
Unless Congress be this department, there is none provided, by which 
the Grant can be executed. It is a "casus omissus." This cannot 
be admitted, for there is no Grant in the Constitution inoperative, 
ineffectual, obsolete or useless. The Guarantee is operative and 
cjfrctual. It reaches and embraces the event and controversy origi- 
nally contemplated. It is settled judicially that the Grants can be 
exercised only by the department, or officer of Government to which 
they are distributed and assigned by the Constitution. The execu- 
tion of this power, then, appears to me, to devolve alone on Congress, 
among the legislative powers. 

THE PROPER SUBJECT. 

Reason 7. The object or subject on which the execution of the guar- 
antee attaches, is an existing Constitution and Government, "repub- 
lican in form" adopted and organized by the people of an original 
State. 

ITS EXECUTION CONCLUDES ALL QUESTIONS. 

ReasoiX 8. Its execution, like admission, settles and concludes all 
prior and preliminary questions, before it can be executed or re- 
fused. 

The manner of forming and adopting a Constitution ; — of orga- 
nizing a Government — its form, powers and character — the mode of 
application — the capacity of the applicants, nuist first be settled, 
determined and concluded by Congress, tb.e highest and only con- 
stituted authority, on whicli, such determination and its execution or 
refusal devolves in the last resort. 

NEGATIVE AND AFFIRMATIVE DETERMINATION. 

Reason 9. A controversy between opposing Governments of a 
State, presupposes a prior existing Government, and another, at- 
tempting to supercede it. Especially is this the case in an original 
State. Upon such a controversy, then, an adjudication by Congress 
may be negative to one or both — affirmative to one only. The guar- 
antee may be refused to one or both, but can be executed to one on- 
ly. Take the Rhode Island Controversy for illustration : 

Upon an application to Congress, of both the Charter and People'.? 
Government, while in being, an adjudicalion thai neither was republi- 
can in form however adopted — the guarantee must have been refused 
to both. So upon application of either alone — a decision that the 
People's was properly adopted and republican, and the Charter not. 
Congress must have guaranteed it, for the plain reason that it had su- 
perceded the Charter — not for the abhorrent reason assigned by Mr. 
Burke, upon an improper application, that when a Constitution, 



11 

*• which exists in the consent of the people, and over which tliey have 
control, is not of a republican form — it is the duty of Congress to 
set it aside and to recognize and nifurcc mie that is ! ! ! " Such a 
doctrine is a solecism even in the wildest vagaries of Dorrism itself. 

For an adjudication that the People's was not properly adopted, 
would have made it waste paper removed the event, for which a guar- 
antee was asked, and left the Charter, recognized by the Constitution 
in the consent and control of the people as before, over which Con- 
gress have nothing to do, much less the duty to set it aside ! ! ! 

So in a case, which can scarcely ever happen, where, both claimant 
Governments are adjudged republican in form, the latter is to he 
preferred, because it is the last act of the sovereign people over the 
subject, and therefore supercedes the prior Constitution. 

The obligation on Congress to execute the guarantee to an origi- 
nal State, is" much stronger than to "admit a State." In the former, 
it "shall guarantee," in the latter, it "may admit." The effects of 
the two powers when executed, are coeval with each other, on the 
subjects, to which they respectively apply, and thus the symmetry and 
uniformity of State Government, are preserved and enforced in all. 
Applications of an old or new State are therefore founded upon a 
State Government existant, asking for the guarantee, or admission, 
and the execution of both powers or either of them, embraces and 
concludes all incidental and pi-eliininari/ questions, arising out of the 
waif, mode and manner of its formation, adoption and organization. 

PRECEDENTS AND PRACTICE. 

Reaso.v 10, Tennessee, 31ichigan and Arkansas are adjudicated 
precedents, and illustrate some of the preceding positions. The 
people of these States, while Territories, and subject to the ordi- 
nances of Congress, in the exercise of their sovereign rights, without 
regard to those ordinances, met in Conventions, formed and adopted 
Constitutions and governments, and in their capacities of State gov- 
ernments, applied for admission. 

It was objected, especially to Michigan, that their preliminary 
proceedings were had " without the consent," and against the " or- 
dinances of Congress," and were therefore " unauthorized and 
void." 

The triumphant and sustained reply Vv-as, " that the sovereign 
right of the people of a State or Territory, having the requisite popu- 
lation, to meet, form and adopt constitutional governments, was not 
" controlled by, or made dependant upon, the consent of Congress ;" 
•' otherwise Congress, by withholding its consent, could perpetually 
prevent the admission of new States into the Union." On admitting 
Michigan, Col. Benton, whose great experience in our civil institu- 
tions well defined popular State sovereignty, and said — 

" That Conventions were original acts of the people : They de- 
pended upon inherent and inalienable rights. The people of any 
State may at any time meet in Convention, without a law of their 
Legislature, and without any provision, or against any provision in 
their Constitution, and may alter or abolish the whole form of their 
governments, as they please." 

This doctrine is perfectly consistent with sovereignty, over any 
mode for amendment in a Constitution. The power to abolish the 



12 

greater instrument most assuredly can abolish any subordinate pro- 
vision. There is no terror in this, when once examined. 

Those States were admitted. Their admission settled the right 
of their proceedings, even in opposition to the ordinances of Con- 
gress ; and all questions as conditions precedent to their admission. 

THE RIGHT TO FORM STATE GOVERNMENTS. 

Reason 11. The right of the people of a State or Territory, or a 
clearly ascertained majority of them, to meet in Convention, to alter, 
institute and adopt, for, and by themselves, with or without the con- 
sent of their legislatures, or any other power, when and how they 
choose, is unrestricted and controllable by no authority, except that 
which they have imposed "over themselves and the subject matter," by 
their adoption of the National Constitution. 

This right is the necessary and positive result, from "their inherent 
and original sovereignty" first created and conferred upon them, by 
the Declaration of Independence. Upon this sovereign right, to this 
extent, there is no restriction whatever. It was left to the States, un- 
impaired, and extended prospectively to the people of new States by 
the Constitution itself A moment's reflection and a glance at the 
rapidity of resistance of the Colonies, prove the great value of this 
arrangement, and powerfully evinces the intention of the framers of 
that Instrument. 

PROOF. 

The people of this continent, ow ing and acknowledging nllegi- 
ance to the realm of Great Britain, were created and incorporated 
into distinct Colonies or States, by Charters from the Crown , with 
certain restrictions and limitations upon them as "Sovereigns.'''' 

In their corporate capacities, wiiiie permitted "to enact laws," 
befitting their "good and welfare,'* they could "ordain no law, no 
ordinance," nor " use, exercise, or put into execution,''' any "forms 
and ceremonies of Goveijuncnt nud Magistracy'^ contrary and repug- 
nant "to our Realm of England.'''' In this dependant situation they 
remained down to 1765, when the stamp act produced the first act 
of resistance to British authority. Virginia taking the lead — In 
June, Massachusetts proposed a "Colonial Congress to consult for 
the general safety." In October following. Delegates from nine 
States met, which was the first general meeting of the Colonies for 
any purpose, adopted a declaration against the Stomp Act, and ex- 
pressed their continued allegiance to the Crown. In 1769 an event 
occurred; which gave new impulses to resistance, and awakened new 
aspirations for independence. An order was sent to the Governor 
of Massachusetts, requiring all suspected of " Treason to be sent 
home and tried." In tlie progress of conflicts that ensued, meas- 
ures were matured to call a " Continental Congress.'" This body, 
consisting of delegates from eleven States, held its first session, 
Sept. 4th, 1774. On May 10th 1776 a second Congress was hold- 
en. " Independence had been broached among the People." — On 
the 8th of June, IMr. Lee moved, "to declare America, free and in- 
dependent," and July 4th consummated the deed. 

This noble act abrupted all allegiance to the Crown— annulled 
their Charter governments—abrogated all restrictions, and THREW 



13 

BACK the people upon tlieir inherent rights as ORIGINAL SOVE- 
IIEIGNS, not controllableby nuy authority whatever. 

The Charter Legislatures henceforward, existed only by the suffer- 
ance of their sovereigns, the people. They possessed no power 
which they could exert themselves, much le^s any poiver to delegate 
to others. Instead of their possessing any right or power to permit 
the people to act — the people permitted them to exercise the func- 
tions of legislation. 

'The people of each State, then, of and by themselves — with or 
without consent of their legislatures, were sovereign over both 
rights, to adopt "such forms and ceremonies of Government and 
Magistracy," as they chose, and to exert such means and resources 
to " put them into execution, os they pleased^ Nay — they could com- 
pel the consent and acquiescence of their Legislatures. The fact 
that they suffered and permitted their Legislatures to exist and exer- 
cise legislative functions, is plenary proof of their uncontrollable 
sovereignty. Let us trace these rights, then, and see when the peo- 
ple relinquished the latter. From this pericfd, they assumed a new 
national character. 

November 17, 1777, second year of Indeq^endcnce, the Continen- 
tal Congress proposed a new compact of Union, the Confedera- 
tion, which was ratified July 9, 1778, third year. By this new 
compact, the people, as sovereigns, through their legislative agents, 
still dependant upon their will, yielded and granted to Congress, cer- 
tain attributes of their sovereignty, and retained to themselves the 
residue. Among those retained, were both absolute rights above. 

" Art. 2. Each State retains its sovereignty, freedom and inde- 
pendence, and every power, jurisdiction and right, which is not by 
this confederation expressly delegated to the United States in Con- 
gress assembled." 

The people, with their retained sovereignty and rights, over both 
the forms and ceremonies of government, and the means to put them 
into execution, and their Legislatures, continued in this independent 
condition, to September 17, 1787, when, in the ticclfth year of Inde- 
pendence, they formed another compact of Union, and another gov-- 
ernment, over themselves, the Constitution. 

THE RELINQUISHMENT. 

By this instrument they again loaived and granted to the United 
States, other and more important attributes of their sovereignty. 
Of these two absolute rights, they waived the latter, and again re- 
tained the yb?v«er. While they divided the former, over any forms, 
— retained and restricted themselves to the single right over a Re- 
publican form only, they waived all right over their own physical 
resources to put into execution the one form, when adopted, and in the 
language of the S. Court of the U. S., " The States in their highest 
sovereign capacities in the Convention of the people, in a plenitude 
unimpaired by any act, and controllable by no authority, adopted 
the Constitution, by which they made to the United States a grant," 
to "guarantee" — '' put into execution" — to establish for themselves, 
the one form of government, which they limited and restricted 
themselves to form and adopt. 

The sovereign right, bestowed by independence, and retained un- 



14 

der the ConfederatiDii, to meet, form and adopt the " form and cer- 
emony of a Republican government, with cr tcithout the consent and 
permission of their Legislatures — they again retained to themselves 
nnimpairvd — while they magnanimously relinquished, granted and 
surrendered the right to use, resort to, and exert, their own phy- 
sical resources to establish it : This right and their ojcn resources 
they granted to the United States, and agreed that Congress should 
exercise it, and use and exert their resources for and over them- 
selves, whenever their grant of the guarantee should require it. 

To guard against all misconstruction, and more effectually to se- 
cure this and other ?-ffa«HPf/ rights from encroachment, they again,- 
]\Iarch 4, 17S9, thirteenth year of Independence, hastened to adopt 
the following declaratory amendment, viz. — " The powers not dele- 
gated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it 
to the States, are reserved to the States respectively, or to the peo- 
ple." Amd. 12. 

The words " States , respectively" are here used to designate the 
limits and territorial jurisdictions of each Colony, as in their Char- 
ters, and in the ^d article of the Confederation. 

The obvious meaning of the amendment is, the powers not delegat- 
ed, nor prohibited by the Constitution, are reserved, to the people 
of the Colonies respectively. But, suppose the word "States" is 
used in contradistinction to " the people." The use of the rights 
re.'?fyycf/ then, devolve alternately upon "the States," and "the peo- 
ple." Therefore, when a Charter government should withhold its 
consent, the alternate use of the rights rescr-vcd, devolve upon the 
people, and become executory by them without sucJi consent. 

This right, therefore, the people of each State still retain, and can 
exercise it, unth or without consent of their Charter Legislature, as 
they could have done at any period between the Declaration of Lide- 
pendence and the adoption of the Constitution, with the single ex- 
ception that they have relinquished their right to^ comper their Leg- 
islature to acquiesce in it. 

To have restricted this right, and made its exercise dependent up- 
on the permission of the Charter Legislatures, therefore, would have 
revived and imparted to them a power and vigor, which independence 
had extinguished and annulled. It would have marred the system 
just created — defeated uniformity of Republican institutions in any 
or all the States — for, as such consent might be withheld by a Colo- 
nial Legislature, the adoption of Republican governments might 
have been perpetually prevented. It was, therefore, left unrestricted 
by the Constitution!* 

''Upon the Act nailing a Convention in my address December 22, lt?42, I 
held the sanip doctrine, viz : 

Its (the act) langinige is, that the Freemen be, and they are hereby re- 
^"^.^'•^d to choose delegates. Here is no authority asserted — none claimed. 
Ihis request could iiave no greater force, than a similar one by any other 
equal number of citizens. 

All Conventions originate in the same way — unless some positive mode is 
prescribed by a paramount or sovereign power. In such cases, a Convention 
IS only a body, with delegated or limited authority, and can act only in accord- 
ance with the will of its creator. 

J\ot so Willi a Convention originating by a more request from a body of men 
possessing themselves no authority to call it, and no power to delegate to it. 



16 

STATE SOVEREIGNTY. 

Reason' 12. The sovereignty of the people, over a State govern- 
ment differs from that of the people of the United States over the 
National government. The latter is uncontrollable and absolute. 
They can at any time, annul — institute another, and put it into exe- 
cution by their own resources, as they please. 

Stati:; sovereigxtv, under tlie National Constitution, is limited 
and restricted to the single right to form and adopt, a Republican 
government only, and interdicted from resorting to its own resources. 
This is the terminus of State sovereignty over that subject matter. 

INTERDICTION. 

Reason 13. The grant of the guarantee to the United States, 
then, while it tolerates State sovereignty to this extent, and obligates 
each original State, in such a controversy, " to come" to Cono-ress, to 
settle and establish for her, a Republican government — here inter- 
poses — prohibits — forbids and interdicts her, to resort to any other 
course, or to use, or attempt to use any other resourees or means 
to put it into execution, on penalty of the intervention of the o-overn- 
ment, and the punishment it inHicts. This right each State has not 
only waived, alienated, and devested herself of, by her grant of it to 
the United States, but has transferred and granted her own physical 
resources, to be used by the Executive of the Union, upon his requi- 
sition, to suppress and protect each of the other States against vio- 
lence and insurrections. Otherwise the national guarantees are 
useless and inoperative ! 

THE COURSE ENJOINED. 

Reaso.v 14. On the adoption of a Constitution, and the oro-aniza- 
tion of a government under it, in an original State, then, while both 
are in being, " a committee appointed to transmit the Constitution," 
the organization, and all the proceedings in relation to them, to Con- 
gress — like a new State for admission — and by '• memorial in be- 
half of the people of the State — to ask in their name, " the recoo-- 
nition of the Constitution," and guarantee of it to the States. — 
(See forms and practice of new States.) 

Such is the duty of an original State, and the mode of application 
to Congress, the legitimate and only authority, which each State, for 
herself, has erected and agreed, by her grant of the guarantee, should 
establish the government so formed, and settle all controversy arisino- 
between it, and an opposing government. 

The grant itself bestowed upon Congress (U. States) the exclusive 
exercise of this right, and the power to use, employ and exert the 
physical resources of each State, to execute the guarantee ; as is 
shown by the powers vested in the President, " to call forth," in the 
first instance, ' the militia' of each State, ' to execute the laws and 
suppress insurrections.' Hence, all mooted questions are finally set- 

A mere rpquest is of no efficacy whatever, until the people upon whom it 
is made, signify tiieir assent and co-operation by clioosing delegates to repre- 
sent them in the proposed Convention. 

When such a Convention is assembled it assumes an original character and 
potency — the embodied sovereign will of the people, acting through and by 
its delegates. The right, therefire, to prescribe and ordain its own forms and 
rules for its future action, is an allribute of power, coeval and co-existent with 
their sovereign will." 



16 

lied and determined by Congress, as conditions precedent to the exe- 
cution of the guarantee. 

The duty of a State government so formed, and claiming right" 
ful authority, then, admonishes to this course; respect for the law 
and Constitution of the Union, controls its acts, and compels its 
obedience ; examples and practice direct its judgment ; the penal- 
ties for offending, check its misguided impetuosity, and p rohibit 
a resort to any other course. 

EFFECTS OF ITS OPPOSITE. 

Reason 15. A resort by a State government, to its own re 
sources, or any other means, to establish it, makes the resort it- 
self an offence of no ordinary guilt — rejects constitutional injunc- 
tions — disobeys constitutional prohibitions — violates the grant and 
agreement of the guarantee — transcends State sovereignty — pro- 
vokes and invites, insurrections and insubordination — assumes the 
powers of the National Government, conferred by the Constitu- 
tion — and commits ' domestic violence,' in open disobedience of 
the other grant to protect ! ! ! 

DORR'S ERROR. 

Here was the fatal error of my old friend ! against the dangers of 
which, under the eaves of the foundry, at his inauguration, after my 
old Democratic friends, Dea. Eben. Barney and several other mem- 
bers of the Legislature came to my house during the intermission, 
to obtain my opinion upon his proposal to take the State House by 
force. I frankly warned him, and advised and urged him to dismiss 
his military and to appeal to Congress. His reply was taunting and 
repulsive. " This was not the course he had marked out." He 
proposed to elect Rejjresenlatives to Congress, and let the House 
adjudicate their election and rights to sit." To this I replied, " their 
decision, one way or the other, v/ould settle nothing farther than an 
expression of opniion of one branch of the Government, within its 
specific constituliwual power, and would be wholly inojierative, far- 
ther than a rejection or admission." He left me for liis oilicial du- 
ties, with a repetition, ' this is not my course.' On the night of the 
ItSth of May, I left my then country residence, and arrived at An- 
thony's Head Quarters about ten o'clock, mingled with the soldiery, 
ascertained an attack on the arsenal was to be made, sought and 
obtained a short interview with him, in the hope of prevailing with 
him, and again frankly urged hiin to abandon his forcible measures, 
commit no violence, as he could neither sustain himself by right or 
force. At this moment information reached him of an adverse mil- 
itary movement, when he abruptly mingled among his men, and 
next morning, for my good intentions toward him, 1 was informed 
by his surgeon, that he charged me with being a spy. 1 have seen 
him but once since. Because I have not thought as he thinks, on 
the great question which he undertook, but preferred Democracy to 
Dorrism, 1 have incurred all the venom his influence could excite, 
among his deluded adherents. Be it so, I make no complaint, as 
their indifterence is much more pleasant than a closer forced intima- 
cy. 

PROTECTION. 

Reason 16. The other grant to protect each State from do- 



17 

mestie Tiolence, imposes like duties and obligations on the United 
States, and equally strong duties, obligations and restrictions upoh 
each State, which neither cart omit, transgress nor disobey, with- 
out incurring the penalties they inflict. 

While it compels the national authorities to interpose and af- 
ford protection, it enjoins upon the people of each State not to 
commit violence— ^subjects them to the interposition of the nation- 
ial government, if they do, and visits upon them the penalties of 
omission and transgression. As the guarantee of a republican 
government prohibits and interdicts the use of forcible measures, 
so a resort to them for that purpose, is a wrongful act — a viola- 
tion of solemn obligations — an omission of the highest duties — a 
transgression of imposed restrictions, and a provocation for its 
penalties and intervention. 

From tlie juxtaposition of these two grants in the Constitution, 
and the close relation they bear to each other, it is not improbable that 
this power was inserted to meet a contemplated violence, arisino- 
from an improper attempt of one party or tlie other, in an original 
State, to establish a Government by forcible means. At all events, 
such a result has happened in one of the original States, in violation 
of all duties, restrictions and obligations, imposed upon herself, by 
both grants, and Avhich made the interposition of the government 
necessary to suppress it. In both cases, each State by her own 
agreement, has confided to Congress and the Executive, the exer- 
cise and execution of each power, over herself. 

Upon grants of powers to each department, or officer of the Gov- 
ernment, and upon restrictions upon the States resulting therefrom, 
the court is impressive and decisive, viz : 

" The States, in their higiiest sovereign capacities in the Conven- 
tion of the people, in a plenitude unimpaired by any act, and con- 
trollable by no authority ,'''' adopted the Constitution, by which thej 
made to the U. States a grant of Judicial power, "over controver- 
sies between two or more States." The States ivaived their exemp- 
tion from judicial power, as sovereigns by original and inherent 
right, by their own grant of its exercise, over themselves, in such ca- 
ses. The Constitution created a new Government, organized it into 
distinct departments, assigning to each its appropriate powers, and 
to Congress the power of carrying into execution the powers grant- 
ed to each, so that the laws of tlie Union could be enforced by it.s 
own authority^ upon all persons and subject matters, over which ju- 
risdiction was granted by any department or officer of the Govern- 
ment of the U. States, , . "to extend the Legislative, Executive and 
Judicial power, alike over persons and States on the enumerated 
subjects of the grants. The States submitted to its exercise ; waiv- 
ed their sovereignty, and agreed to come to this Court, to settle their 
controversies with each other." — 12 Peters, 730. 

This decision excludes from the Judicial power, controversies be- 
tween claimant Governments of a State. The execution of the 
guarantee devolves, upon the Legislative department. 

The States as Sovereignshy original right then, waived their right 
to establish a Government by a resort to their own resources, by 
their grant to Congress, to exercise it, and to employ their own physi- 
cal energies " over themselves." Each, and all for each, submitted 
3 



18 

to its exercise — and, as in their grant to the Judicial power, orer 
" controversies between two or more States," solemnly agreed " to 
come'^ to Congress, to settle a controversy arising, between opposing 
governments, in a State, and to guarantee and establish a republican 
one, " over themselves." 

As they restricted and interdicted themselves from the right to 
enforce it, so they obligated themselves not to commit violence in 
attempting it — and subjected themselves to t!ie intervention of the 
National Government, for their transgression ! ! ! 

Concede then, that Dorr's Constitution was righthj adopted, his 
Government rightly organized, himself, the rightful ch'xei magistrate, 
yet, under 'popular sovereignty within State hmils,' x\\g prerogative he 
assumed, to enforce and establish them, by a resort to the physical 
resources of the State, was an assumption of the powers of the Na- 
tional Government — an oftence approximating to TREASON 
against it — an act wholly indefensible — irrespective of tiie constitut- 
ed Umpire of his country — and violative alike of the immense obli- 
gations and solemn duties imposed upon him, as the rightful Execu- 
tive of a State ! ! 1 

This alarming and fiital assumption of right, at this enlightened 
period in our civil and constitutional jurisprudence, so utterly regard- 
less of the course, ordained by the State, over herself and her con- 
troversy, — and against all advice, has indeed no palliation — no re- 
deeming excuse. It can be accounted for only, not justified, by a 
misconception of the import, and a misapplication to a state of 
" popular sovereignty," whose seducing charms seem to have be- 
trayed my old friend, into culpable and frightful excesses. 

This was tiie course Democracy advised — this the course Dorrism 
rejected. This course and these reasons will be attested, and those 
of Dorrism condemned by the facts following. 

REBUKE OF DEMOCRATS, AND HIS OWN FRIENDS. 

For advising this course, and refusing to aid him in his ill-advised 
measures, he still continues to upbraid his friends, and to impugn the 
'<■ honor and dull/ of Democ.rats." In August last, in reply to the 
Albany Democratic Committee — he says: " Having done all that 
circumstances permitted, and regretting its (constitution) fall, through 
the defect of those who were most interested, at a period when honor 
and (/w/y summoned all democrats to their rights." Indeed! The 
only circumstance permitted him to do, he obstinately left undone ! 
He rejected Congress, and resorted to force ! Honor and duty did 
govern democrats, and prevented them from the commission of 
Crime ! His rebuke upon Suft>age men, who advised and urged 
him into his ill-advised measures, and who were the first to desert 
him, though severe, is merited and just ! 

A FALLACIOUS OPINION is extensively prevalent, that he was in)- 
prisoned for a political oftence, in asserting the rights of the people. 
If the preceding remarks are correct, upon the duties he owed to 
the Constitution of his country — his offence consisted in destroying 
the rights of the people ! It was but little short of a treasonable re- 
sistance to it. So near an approach was it, that the intervention of 
the Government he had offended, became necessary to repress its 
outrages! At the head of his Government, instead of applying to 



10 

Congress— he employed force— instead of avoiding, vrhich his posit- 
ion enjoined, lie invoked violence, regardless of all consequences, 
and thus became amenable to the penalties of disobedience, to the 
National Government, to which the State, over which he claimed to 
preside, had agreed, she would be amenable in such cases ! 1 he 
event that required this interposition was the result of his own mcon- 
siderate act, against which, the Government of the State de- 
manded the execution of the grant, to protect and suppress. 

The prescribad form of ])roof, that domestic violence did exist, 
was presented to the Executive of the Union. To discharge his du- 
ties and to avoid impeachment, which a neglect would have incurred, 
the energies of the nation were put into requisition, (mark the ob- 
ject, (not to execute the guarantee of Dorr's Constitution, but to sup- 
press the violence he had unlawfully created in attempting to guar- 
antee it by force— and to chastise his disobedience, as the rightful 
claimant Governor of a State, in defiance of the National Constitu- 
tion, which, while he held in one hand, arms to resist- he raised the 
other to Heaven, and invoked its behest— to defend ! ! ! 
DORR MISREPRESENTS AND TRADUCES THE NATIONAL AU- 
THORITIES — STIMULATES HIS ADHERENTS — ASSUMES A 
NEW POSITION -AND SEEKS SHELTER UNDER STATE SOV- 
EREIGNTY. 

THE CONTRAST. 

The positions of the President, in his letter to Governor Kmg, 
April 11, 184-3, it will be seen, are wilfully reversed and totally mis- 
represented by Dorr. The very excuses, on which he relies for a 
colorable .justification of his conduct, convict him of falsehood and 
crime against the National Government. 

PRESIDENT'S POSITIONS. 
First. He says, ' For the regulation of my conduct in any inter- 
position, which': may be called upon to make, between the govern- 
ment of a State and its citizens, I can only look to the Constitution 
and Laios of the United States, which plainly declare the ohliga- 
tions of the Executive department, and leave it no alternative ; as to 
the course it shall pursue,' — and refers to the guarantee and the acts 
of Congress of 1795 and 1807. The first prescribes the proclama- 
tion, calling forth the militia of other States— the second, a simul- 
taneous employment of the government forces. 

Second. ' By a careful consideration of the above acts,' it will be 
seen, says he, that ' no power is vested in the Executive to anticipate 
insurrectionary movements, &c. but there must be an actual insur- 
rection, manifested by lawless assemblages, &.c. to whom a procla- 
mation may be addressed, and who may be required to betake them- 
selves to their respective abodes.' But should ' an insurrection' act- 
ually occur, and ' a requisition be made to furnish protection, which 
is guaranteed to each State by the Constitution, I shall not be found 
to shrink from the performance of a duty, which, while it would be 
most painful, is at the same time most imperative.' 

Third. ' I have also to say, that in such a controversy, the Exec- 
utive COULD NOT look luto any real or supposed defects of the ex- 
isting government, in order to ascertain, whether some other plan of 



50 

government proposed for adoption, was better suited to the want*, 
and more in accordance with the wishes, of any portion of her citi- 
zens.' 

Fourth. ' To throw the Executive power of this government into 
any such controversy, would be to make the President the ARMED 
ARBITRATOR, between the people of the different States and 
their CONSTITUTED authorities,and might lead to a usurped pow- 
er, dangerous alike to the stability of the State governments and the 
liberties of the people.' 

Fifth. * It will be my duty, on the contrary, to respect the requi- 
sitions of that government which has been duly recognized as the 
existing government of the State through all time past, until I shall 
be advised, in regular manner, that it has been altered and abolished 
and another substituted in its place, by legal and peaceable proceed- 
ings, adopted and pursued by the authorities and people of the State." 
What is the" regular manner" of which the President can alone 
be advised, that a Govenrment of one of the original States, recog- 
nised by the Constitution has been superseded by another, where a 
controversy exists between the two 1 

The execution of the guarantee, upon proper application by Con- 
gress, the '■' authorities ^' created by that instrument to adjust and 
settle for the people of a state,the controversy ! An act of Congress 
guaranteeing the superceding government, the people have adopted, 
in the place of that, which the Constitution had recognized 1 The 
regular manner of advisement, and the only manner, the Executive 
can take notice of, is the presentation to him of such an Act of Con- 
gress, and his own signature approving it, just as every act admitting 
a new State is. When these pre-requisites are complied with, the 
preceding government is abolished, and another " substituted " " by 
legal and peaceable proceedings, adopted and pursued, by the au- 
thorities and people of the State." 

This is the whole meaning of these last words, as the guarantee 
can be executed only on application by " the people " and " author- 
ity " of the State Government, guaranteed, precisely as a new State. 
See ante-reason 14. 

That he did use the words " authorities and people " in this sense, 
is obvious, for wherever he speaks of the State Government, before 
or after, he contra-distinguishes it, as the " constituted''' authorities, 
of the State, as in 4th position above and the following sentence, viz. 
" No portion of her people will be willing to drench her fair fields 
with the blood of her own brethren, in order tn obtain a redress of 
grievances, which their CONSTITUTED authorities can- 
not for any length of time resist, if properly appealed to by the pop- 
ular voice." While this proves Dorr's misconstruction, it adminis- 
ters a wholesome rebuke to his sanguinary propensities! 

POSITIONS OF DORR, CONTRA. 
[From his Boston Address. — August 10th, 1843.] 
First. — Grounds assumed by the President. Two things were by 
him taken for granted which have not been, and I trust never will 
])e in this country admitted by the people, viz : that the people have 
no right to change a Government, in a peaceable and authentic man- 
per, without leave from the existing Legislature. 



21 

From what authority, this gratuitous and perverted charge is made 
against the President, is difficult to be seen. Not a syllable in his 
April letter warrants it. On the contrary, it is distinctly disclaimed, 
as in the third reason above. Dorr's misapprehension of t'le mean- 
ing and applicability of the terms " legal and peaceable proceedings 
of "the authorities and people of the State," puts words into tlie Pres- 
ident's language he never uttered, and perverts that language into an 
assumption, which it neither refers nor alludes to. 

All the President does say is — neither the ' defects in the existing 
government' nor, ' the plan of another proposed^ can control his duty ! 
Not a word — not an allusion to the right of the yreople to change 
their government, with or without the consent of their Legislature, 
in the whole letter, except through the guarantee of the national 
constitution, upon the ' Authorities and people,' who Imvc adopted 
the plan of another government ! The suggestion of ' legal and 
peaceable proceedings' seems to have frightened Dorr — bewildered his 
intellectual vision, and made him see and understand in the language 
of the President, what is there, not to be seen nor understood. 

Second. ' And the President of these States is the CONSTITU- 
TIONAL UMPIRE OF STATE RIGHTS, authorized to settle 
all domestic questions of this kind, sjnnmarili/ with the siiwrd,'m case 
of the non-acquiescence in his mandate to the oftending party, in favor 
of that, which he espouses.' 

This charge is still less warranted. It is not only opposed to the 
President's position, that he could take no notice of the forms or de- 
fects of either controverting government, but directly in opposition, 
to the fourth position above, that, the Executive of the Union, was 
not the constitutional Umpire — and that, ' to throw the Executive 
power into such a controversy, would make the President, the 
ARlMED ARBITRATOR, of, a usurped power ! 

Instead also, of being ' the Umpire of State rights' — the President, 
declares — such an assumplion would be ' dangerous alike to the 
stability of the State governments — and the liberties of the people. !!! 
Is it not most extraordinary that, a man situated as Dorr was, 
using force both, in defiance to state rights and the laws of hi.s 
country, should in his cooler judgment, deliberately charge the Pres- 
ident with assuming positions he positively disclaimed, and impute 
to him, motives and designs he distinctly disavowed ? merely, be- 
cause his solemn duties and obligations compelled him to interpose 
the guarantee and protect the Stale against lawless violence of which; 
Dorr himself was the originator! ! 

Third. 'He (the President) denies the sovereignty ofthepeopl&i 
The matter of fact considered by the President was, whether the 
people of Rhode Island had been invited, authorized or commanded 
to form and adopt a constitution by their superiors, the servants of 
the minority representing them in the Legislature.' Finding it was, 
* without any such formality, he at once assumed, the v/hole proceed- 
ing was null and void' — and ' was immediately set aside by his un- 
warrantable assumption — the form is every thing and the substance 
nothing.' 

This is no less than a wilful perversion of the President's lan- 
guage. Throughout the letter, there is not an allusion to the form or 
substance of the constitution: nor to the manner of forminjj or adopt- 



ing it — other than nhove — not a word upon the sovereignty of the 
peo|)le. On the contrary — the President says, 'I shall not adven- 
ture the expression of an opinion upon those questions oi domestic pol- 
icy, which seem to have given rise to the unfortunate controversies be- 
tween a portion of the citizens and the existing government of the 
State.' 

Is such a perversion of language so intelligible and distinct to be 
tolerated in any one — much less by Dorr? Yet his adherents be- 
lieve to this day that President Tyler is a tyrant, by his (D's) mis- 
representations !! 

Fourth. ' This doctrine' says lie, ' was embodied in a letter said 
to have been prepared by the Secretary (Mr. Webster) to Gov. King 
in April 1842, in which it is set forth explicitly, that no valid change 
of a State government, can take place, without the consent of the au- 
thorities and people — the authorities being first in time and import- 
jiiice — and the agency of the people being secondary.' 

This shows also lie wholly mistook the sense, in which these words 
were used by Mr. Webster, whose legislative and judicial experience 
in the mode and manner of admitting new states, undoubtedly dicta- 
ted their use in contradistinction to the ' constituted authorities' of the 
State. If he did not misapprehend them, then he wilfully misrepre- 
.«ented them, to deceive and keep his adherents together, by stimula- 
ting their prejudices against the President ! 

Another reason, that proves these words were used in this sense 
— is the reference in the letter to the guarantee itself — and disproves 
Dorr's use of them. For, if the Legislature had the power to 
command and give consent at all — it needed not the voluntary aid 
of the people to make the change ! 

The power to command and give consent, could enforce obedience 
of the people, to the change, without their assent. But applied to 
the execution of the guarantee, and the establishment of a new gov- 
ernment ; and tlieir meaning, in distinction from constituted authori- 
ties of the State, is plain. 

Congress can take no notice of a constitution and government 
adopted in opposition to an existing government — unless upon appli- 
cation of the former, by its agents jtroperli/ authorized for that pur- 
pose, to have the new government guaranteed. It is then accom- 
plished by the outhorities and people of the new, and not by the 
constituted authorities of the old government. 

Yet, Dorr for purposes condemned by the national Constitution, 
sixteen months after his transgressions against it, deliberately arraigns 
its authoritieSjby charging them, with, usurping powers they distinct- 
ly disclaimed — and with uttering sentiments they have not expressed. 

Fifth. ' The President claims to arbitrate upon the rights of the 
people with the SWORD — asserts that the people have no right to 
amend their institutions without permission of the authorities — but 
also sets forth the dangerous doctrine — that the national Executive, 
is the Ultimate Judge and Umpire, in all questions of the kind that 
may arise in the States.' 

Yet, the President in a letter June 25, 1842, to Gov. King, says — 
' Your Excellency has unintentionally overlooked the fact, that the 
Legislature is now in session — The act of Congress, Feby. 1795, 
gives no power to summon to the aid of the State, the Military forct 



23 

of the United States, unless an application shall be made by the 
Legislature if in session, and that the State Executive cannot (make 
it) except when the Legislature cannot be convened.' 

I presume your Excellency has been led into the error, from a 
misaspprehension of the true import of my letter of May 7,' in which 
he also says, mark the import ! — ' but, however painfid the duty, I 
have to assure your Excellency that, if resistance be njjide to tbe ex- 
ecution of the Laws of Rhode Island by such force, as the Civil posse 
shall be unable to overcome, it will be the duty of this government 
to enforce the constitutional guarantee — a guarantee given and adop- 
ted mutually by all the original States, of which Rhode Island was 
one, and which in the same way, has been given and adopted by 
each of the States since, admitted into the Union.' 

In his message to the House of Representatives, called forth by 
one of Mr. Burke's resolutions, April 9. 1844, he says — ' I utterly 
repudiate the idea, in terms as emphatic as I can employ, those Laws 
are not to be enforced, or those guarantees complied with, because 
the President may believe that the right ofsuflVage or any other 
great popular right, is either too restricted or too broadly enlarged. 
I also with equal strength, resist the idea that, it falls within the 
Executive cowpetency to decide, in CONTROVERSIES of the na- 
ture of that which existed in Rhode Island. For the Executive to 
assume such a power, would be to assume a power of tlie most dan- 
gerous character. Under such assumptions, the States of this Union 
would have no security for peace or tranquillity, but be converted in- 
to the mere instruments of Executive Will.' 

This is but a re-affirmation of the import of the letters of the Presi- 
dent of April and May, and Secretary Webster — whom this young 
CROMWELL chastises so unmercifully — viz.' Let it be added that 
Tyler and Webster claim to be the followers of the illustrious author 
«f the declaration of Independence — the first originally, the second 
afar off, and with the spirit of recent adoption : and tlie picture is 
completed ! ! !' 

If the false positions he charges upon the constituted authorities 
are to prevail, he asks — ' I ask, then, where is the true conservative 
element of our system, if it be not in the reserved sovercigafi/ of the 
people V 

The answer is short, young man ! Precisely where the constitu- 
tion and the agreement of the people have deposited it.' 

In the exercise of your reserved sovereignty — form your ' republic- 
an' constitution: — if it be resisted by the existing government; — 
appeal to Congress, not to the President as you did do, and ASR 
them to establish — guarantee it furyou, by the employment of your 
own resources, if necessary — which you, as an original State, eqnaJlj 
with the others, have granted to the United Stales — and solemnly a- 
greed, should be exercised by them, to protect the |)eople from vio- 
lence and bloodshed, which your wrongful and forbidden measures 
had provoked and nearly accomplished ! ! ! 

Thus, you would have avoided their interposition, and shunned 
the penalties of your transgression. 

Under a mistaken notion oi reserved sovereignty, of which he so 
much boasts — and a wild or purposely perverted version of the Pre- 
sident's explicit views, he rebukes and censures him in the following 
offensive and ungentleraanly language, viz. 



u 

' Whose measures and appointments are directed towards per 
sonal objects, under the stiiniikis of an inordinate and diseased van- 
ity, which craves ri popular election to a place for which nature and 
his constituents never intended him : who contaminates all that he 
touches, and in his turn, is worked upon through a dangerous facil- 
ity of disposition, by sinister and unprincipled advisers,' &c. ' If 
such a man should arise in this country, God forbid that lie should 
hold in his hands the political rights of Rhode-Island, or any other 
State' ! ! ! 

' A lord paramount, or a supreme military despot, could do no 
more, under the same circumstances: And such is John Tyler, in 
his relation to the people of Pv,liode-Is!and.' 

After an allusion, tiiat if the President's acts had been directed to 
the larger States, and boldly asserting they would liave been resist- 
ed, he says, ' So tliat the army, when it came, would have served 
rather to fertilize, the soil, than to suppress the rights of the citizens. 
]?ut Rhode-Island has paid the penalty of her contracted territory, 
imposed by the President. His veto of the rights of Rhode-Island. 
casts all his other vetoes into the shade.' W ! 

To cap the clunax, he repudiates Congress, and becomes an an- 
tagonist to Edmund Burke, in constitutional heterodoxes. 

' Tiie tiieory,' says he, ' of eoiistitutional rights, is thus reversed 
by the E.vecntivc. Henceforth, enlightened by tiie logic of the Pre- 
sident's advisers, we are to bear in mind that the States and the 
people are the creatures of one of the central poAvers, which they 
are supposed to have created.' . . . ' It would be bad enough if the 
Congress of the United States should assume to dictate to the peo- 
ple of the States, the measures of their rights, and the Constitutions, 
under which they should live.' 

Here the Constitution — the laws of the Union — the Union itself — 
the uniformity of republican governments among the States-^the 
one form of republican constitution, the States have limited them- 
hclves to form by the guarantee — the authority to enforce and estab- 
lish it in the last resort — the prohibition from a resort to any other 
course — the guarantee for protection against vioknce — are annihil- 
ated by one dash of his envenomed pen ! ! ! . 

Burke is cast into nothingness — and even his absurdity is tram- 
pled under foot. 

VIOLATION OF ANOTHER CONSTITUTIONAL PROVISION— THE 
INTERVENTION OF THE GOVERNMENT—AN "UNAUTHOR- 
IZED INVASION "—THE PRESIDENT, THE " INVADER'— WAR 
WITH THE UNITED STATES, ARRESTED BY THE PATRIOTISM 
OF THE PEOPLE. 

Defeated at home in his unwarranted resort to the physical re- 
sources of the State, which of itself, had infracted the two pov/ers o-f 
the guarantee and protection, and called forth the intervention of the 
national government. Dorr rushed madly against another constitu- 
tional provision, and boldly incurred another HIGH OFFENCE, it 
not TREASON against the United States ! 

Failing in his offensive movements with State resources', and as 
CHIEF MAGISTRATE, owing allegiance to the national Consti. 



Its 

' y 

tution, he determined on accomplishing his forbidden purpoies, bj^ 
other forbidden means. 

As a MILITARY CHIEFTAIN, at a period of no foreign inva'- 
sion, and without permit of Congress — regardless of ail consequen- 
ce's— he sought abroad the DISEASED MASSES-^enlisted them 
into his service — organized armed bands, — contracted and received 
the sinews and munitions of vvar — for the avowed purpose, of resist- 
inland disputing the requisitions and supremacy of the government 
of the Union! ! ! 

Let all innocent men pause and shudder, at the frightful precipice 
of rebellion and treason against that Union, to which they were in- 
ccnsiderately harried, under a mistaken ' view of popular sovereignr 
ty within State limits' by the impetuous indiscretion of a, youthful and 
i«exo/-a6/c ADVENTURER ! !! 

This is the provision — Art. I. Sec. 10. ' No State shall enter 
into any treaty, ALLIANCE or CONFEDERATION.* * * No 
State shall, without the consent of Congress, * * Keep troops in 
time of peace, enter into any agreement, or, compact with another 
Slate, or, with a foreign poVver, or, engage in war, unless actually 
invaded." 

An agreement or compact with another State, or f vVith the masses 
which he calls sovereignty) for any— much fess for the unlawful 
purposes of engaging in war, in lime of peace, — are no less crimes, 
than an agreement with a' foreign power;' nor can they be justified 
except in an actual invasion, or imminent danger thereof. 

Yet, in open violation of this provision, under the false pretext of 
his opponents' example, he unlawfully, first invades hJs native State", 
with armed and disciplined BANDS of her own firizens'-'seeks and 
ORGANIZES FORCES irt Other States, SEDUCES both the inno- 
cent and lawless from their allegiance to their own States and the 
t'nion— COMPACTS and AGREES with them, without consent of 
Congress, and PROPOSES to MARCH and COMMAND them 
into the State and ENGAGE IN WAR, with whom? the FORCES 
of the National Government, which he STIGMATISES as a' supei- 
rior force from without", falsely arrogating to itself an offensive and 
dangerous supremacy." 

(t?* He says, " I INVOKED AID to i-esciie the majority, from an 
unequal contest with ANOTHER FORCE to be iSnjustifiably intro- 
duced from without. Believing this FORCE to be set in motion, to 
be used in SUPPRESSING the rights and liberties of the majority 
ip Rhode Island, OUR FRIENDS AVOWED THEIR READI- 
NESS to lend this aid, and PREPARED themselves to lend it | 
8:7^and had the PEOPLE of R. Island and their REPRESENTA, 
TIVES, maintained the ground, which they assurned, in the support 
of the constitution, and not shrunk away from it, livhen, the DECI- 
SIVE OCCASIONS presented themselves — they would have 'jeen 
POWERFULLY and SUCCESSFULLY sustained.;/][} — ^and the inter-J^ntion 
of John Tyler would HAVE MADE RHODE-ISLAJ^'D THE 
BATTLE GROUND OF AMERICAN FREEDOK-".^ 

What is this, but asserted treason against the l-'nited States t 
What was this invocation of aid froiii other States — but an openj 
unqualified and inexcusable violation of the Con^'it^ution of, the Un- 
ion ! The INTERVENTION of the Natior-I Governmen* to sup. 
4 



press his outrajres against civil liberty — is here doclared to l)e " AN- 
OTHER FORCE UNJUSTIFIABLY INTRODUCED from 
without"— and MADE THE PRETEXT, FOR THE BATTLE 
GROUND of a general extermination — instead of American free- 
dom ! ! 

" I hold," says he, •' that the people of R,hode Island were com- 
petent, and had the exclusive ri^/ii to attend to and manage their 
own afiairs, in their own time, and in their own way." (After sta- 
ting that the President was furnished witii the "necessary explana- 
tions" to counteract the partial and injurious representations of the 
character of the constitutional party, which he admits was all that 
was done,)he adds, (rj=-" But when aa UNAUTHORIZED INVA- 
SION from abroad was invited hij our opponents — and the AID was 
at hand to enforce the commands of the INVADER — the time had ar- 
rived to encpiire, if our countrymen of other States WERE DIS- 
POSED to look on in silence, and to see the people of a small 
State home down, WITHOUT ASSISTANCE, by an act of 
USURPATION, and SACRIFICED to the UNJUSTIFIABLE 
POLICY OF THE EXECUTIVE.".^^ 

Here the guarantee which he scornfully rejected, the employment 
of physical resources, it had forbidden him to use, are boldly resumed 
and iorested from Congress, because, as he says, " with the views 
I entertain respecting popular sovereignty within State limits" the 
people had the EXCLUSIVE RIGHT to use them in their own 
time and in their OWN WAY. 

Though each State, by adopting the Constitution, had devested 
herself of the right, and had granted both, it and her own resources 
to the United States, for the very purpose, of settling peaceably and 
legally such controversies, and for preventing his outrages, which 
caused the intervention of the Government to quell and suppress, 
yet, this ?/o«rt^ 7nan under a mistaken view of "popular sovereignty 
within State limits" denounces this intervention as an INVASION 
of the State, an act of usurpation, i\ad sti/lcs the Executive an INVA- 
DER, actuated and governed by an unjustifiable jjolicy." 

Nor is the excuse he fenders for invoking aid from abroad, because 
his opponents had done so, more available to him. The application 
of the State Government, was in the legal and prescribed form, and 
as the President says, left him no alternative. Theirs was a legal 
mode of i)rocedure — his, an illegal and interdicted one. Theirs, 
conformed to the Constitution, his violated and infracted it ! ! ! 

I ask, my fellow citizens, to reflect upon the " dangerous heresies" 
against which I have endeavored to guard them, and for which the 
whole Dorr Inaction have risen up against me. 

T*ause and reflect, upon the situation you ; who lent and prepared 
your-^iid, upon the invocation of Dorr, without permission of his af- 
iiancedrjtovernment, would have placed yourselves, if the people and 
their I'eprujentatives, /lad not shrunk from the ground he assumed. 

The sccHc to which he invited you, "when the decisive occasions 
presented thenNelves," was the arena of treason, against the lawful 
intervention of tht. Government of your country — instead of the bat- 
tle ground of liberty. 

The FOE, with who^o youM-ere seduced, to break a lance, was that 
ARM of the National Cuistitution, which now shields and protects 
you, from the horrors you ^>*ii-e about to perpetrate. 



27 



The "UNAUTHORIZED INVASION" yon were to meet was 
its lawful interposition to protect yonr wives, your innocents, yonr 

^'"Tl'e " INVADER " yon was to face, was the rightful Executive 

"''The^STRUGGLE, you were to engage ia-was no longer a con- 
tpst for coustitutioiKil freedom. . , ^.i,^^ 

The fir BLOW, you struck, on sucii an occasion added another 
crime to your prohibited compact with Dorr-another forte.ture of 
VOL? a leaianci and another infraction of the Constitution. 
^ The fiTdrop of blood tliat crimsoned the soil proclaimed you 
TRAITORS and consummated your Treason ! . . 

That yon escaped these consequences-no thanks aie due to 
oi- His rashness and inexperience would have ruined all alike- 
h^K not we the people, who elevated him to the station he occupied 

;l;:^tn:;ic^rtJ, rep-edhiserror^and -thc^w onr^^t 
To them von are indebted, not to him ; for rescumg yourselves tro m 
the 1 a^ rdous leap, yon were betrayed to take,-and your countiy 
from aJivd strifcfthat might have ended in the abruption of all our 

^'7ft^c:::iderationsdo notweanhis in^itn^ed devc^e^wh. 
have been decoved from the path of duty and obligations to their 
countrv, into the meshes of Dorrism, I know not what can. 

Investicrate this ««o»m/i/-and its revolting^ and abhorient here 
sies will be seen, felt, " deserted and avoided. 

In spite of experience and " the injuries he npon ^'^''^^Zcol 
ed," he still persists, with a '' diseased vanity' m traducing t le Con_ 
stitutional Authoi-ities, with similar hostde. feelings, ^ay, he re as 
serts his assumed right to compact with other States for aid-to 
resist the lawful interposition of the Government and reassures us— 
if the people had been true to themselves, it would have been resist- 
ed '' ' ' 1 r'- 

In July last, in his reply to a Democratic Committee oi the City 
of New York, alluding to his military demonstration upon the public 
Arsenal, in May, 1842, he says: .^ ,l,pni 

" Had our people, at that period of disaster, been true to tliem- 
selves, ihey would have had nothing to fear from th^ . ^?^'\7^^°y ^^^^ 
ARMEo INTERVENTION of the [then] National Chief Ma g^str"te 
who may seek in vain beneath ih^ pall of ft friendly oblivion v^-^Ax 
is rapidly descending upon him, to conceal the outrage which he 

PERPETRATED Upon tllC EIGHTS OF THE StATE." ,-,„ + •,„ 

Here acrain, the interposition, he had infracted the Constitution 
to resist b'y foreign aid, is reaffirmed to be unauthonzcd, and an out- 
rage upon the State ! Is not this delusion deluded? 
FLIGHT— RETURN— OFFENCE. 

The results of that fatal demonstration are well known. The 
cause he attempted to sustain by illegal ^nd forbidden force, vvas lost 
by constitutional and authorised, counter force. He fled inglorious- 
ly. His misguided adherents were subdued into silence. In exile, 
he sought safety and protection. i ' i • .• „ 

At lenath, against friendly admonition, he returned to his n.tive 
State, whose citizens, he had involved in sanguinanj stnje, md 
whose security he had jeopardised by civil commotion, to brave her 



S8. 

ioUiorttj and to deff her cbaatisement. The offenc* of which, he. 
was convicted whs Levying war against the State, made Treason 
by the criminal code of 1838, in the enacting of which, he himself 
participated. The political offence made Treason, by the Algerine 
Law, (so called,) consisted iij" exercising ike functions of a Legisla- 
tive office,'^ under his Constitution. An offence totally distinct from 
" Letting War,^' Had he, as Chief Magistrate, fn obedience to 
his duties- — pursued the course designated, and avoided the overt c(ct 
of Levying War — his offence would have been strictly political. -r— 
He could have been convicted, if at all, for none other — for he would 
then have committed none other. In the event of conviction and 
imprisonment for this offence, how far the sympathies of the entire 
nation would have been aroused and exerted, it is impossible to con- 
jecture. This was not the fact.* 

HIS CLAIMS AS CJHA.M.PION OF CONSTITUTIONAL FREEDOM- 
HE VIOLATES HIS OWN CONSTITUTION— AND TRAMPLES 
THE ACTS OF HIS LEGISLATURE UNDER FOOT. 

Nothing more frequently meets the view in some of the public 
papers, thkn the ascription to him of "Champion of Constitutional 
Liberty.". 

How far his claims to this distinction will be found to be compati- 
ble with the aforegoing, and the following facts — each will judge for 
himself The excessive licenses with his Constitution and Legisla- 
ture, certairdy impart no new lustre, not wreathe no new laurels. 

••NO MAN CAN RISE IJI| TO GAINSAY MX FI,PELITY TO THE 

COJ^StlTI/TiON."— (Boston Address.) 

Unfortunate challenge, my friead ! I do not so rise up-r-it is your- 
selfj vyho impeaches that fidelity ! 

It has been said, in the exuberance of admiration for him, that, 

" His career andM\^ relations with his fellow men, form the test, 
for the sTAiBiLtTY of Government, and the securitt of inalienable 
RIGHTS." — [Albany Democratic Committee, August last.]. 

His utter djsregardjof the acts of. his own Legislature, and the 
sanctity of his own Constitution, to which h.e professes such an:.un- 
conquerable attachment, is no less reckless, than that evinced for 
the Constitution of the l/nion. 

Indeed, Constit^utional obligations and restrictions, were mere 
cobwebs, in the way of accomplishing his purposes. 

By Article 4, Section II, of his Constitution, tjie. appointment of 
all military officers, except captains and other inferior officers of 
military companies, was vested, in Jiis General Assembly, in Grand 
Committee. 

•Upon his trial and conviction, my views liave been pujillcly given. I dis- 
sented from the construction given to the Algerine Act, by the Supreme 
Court, by which, they entertained jurisdiction over the indictvient, found in 
the County of Newport. By the law of 1838, Levying War, could be pro- 
ceeded against only in the County, where it was committed. The Indict- 
ment charged the offence in the County of Ptovidence. By the JiJgcrine 
Law— the three offences therein enumerated, werg made indictable in any 
County, without regard to the County where committed. Upon a just con- 
struction of that Act, its enumerated offences alone, were indictable out of 
•the County where committed. For this reason, I held the trial at Newport^ 
for Levying War, tto be a nullity. On mature reflection, I have not changeel 
f hat opinion. 



9dh 



On the third of May, 184'J, tliat body was organized, and Major— 
Adjvtant— Quartermaster— Cotnmsisarij Generals — a Ungade In^ 
ipector, and other officers of Staff— were appointed. 

The Constitutional power of appointing military officers, was, 
therefore, rightfully exercised and exhausted. The only power re- 
served to the Governor, as Commander-in-Chief, was to summcn 
these officers when qualified, upon lawful duty, lie was not even au- 
thorized to fill vacancies. Yet we find he transcended his own Con- 
stitution, and assumed the power to appoint new military officers, 
even while those already appointed by his Grand Committee, were iu 
full commission." 

For this fact, we are indebted to k'fs own admi£?ion, as no record 
of his assumed authority, has yet transpired. 

On his return to the State," May 16th, from a Mission abroad, for, 
foreign aid, which he thus describes " having accomplished the mo^t 
mportant object for which I departed;' with an expressed intention 
"to establish his Government in fact," he tells us he '^ assembled 
what appeared to be a sujficient force, to accomplish the object." On 
the 18th, he deployed before the Arsenal. lie tells us also, "" the 
ATTEMPT FAILED from DESERTION,— for w.vNT of better ORGANIZA- 
TION— and., OF OFFICERS," viz : 

The failure to accomplish our object, though we wej6 left with 
the means before possessed, to uenbw the attempt, naturaljy en- 
couraged our opponents, and raised the determination on their part 
to assume the offensive. Of this we were fulhj apprised ; a.)d on 
^™«" (Marshall Anthony's house,) to head quarters, NEW OF- 
FICERS WERE APPOINTED." 

By whom ? By the Grand Committee of his Legislature ? By 
what authority then ? " Possessed of the means," he wanted officers 
to reneiq the attcvip^t r and " this want," was made the pretext fpr, 
transcending and violation his own Constitution ! 

What military Despot, would have scrupled less, in assuming and- 
exercising unauthorized power ? 

What aggravates this violation, and renders it still more unjustifi- 
able IS, he assumed and exercised this power, after his own Le^islat- 

UNCOn4 I'lTU^^^^^^^ '"^ ""^'" '' "^''" '"'^' ^''''""'' ^'^ ^^^ 

From the transpired record^ of that Legislature, il; appears that 
an Act of this import, some how found its iv(iy into that Body. B\ 
Whom drawn, or by ^yhom presented, or what has become of it, we 
know nothing beyond the following record notice of it, viz : ' 

1 he Act submitted to ENAiJLE THE Governor to appoint and 
COMMISSION Officers, and to organize th^ Militia, was taken up, 
debated, and committed to Mr. Brown, of Gloucester. Mr. Brown 
made report that the Act referred to him, giving the Governpr cer- 
ST^TT'I^m^^'V''""'''''''''^''' ^""^ organizing the Militia, is VNCON- 
«^;J \ r , •■ "^""^ ""'^^ ^"^ ^^ discharged, from the further con- 
sideration of the same. Voted to discharge the Committee, and the 
Act IS laid on the table." 

fnfi^'' ^'T"" '" ^ ^^'•''y^^^ and seeips to have understood the Consti- 

r^/A "^rrrt '^V^^'^'abimy from hasty legislation. 
Dnhirt f ''I-*^'^^°^>''^^^'^'^hnotraceisto be found in its 

published proceedings, is too important lo escape notice. 
..rr ^fS"'^^"''^' ^"i<5ng "» first acts, solemnly refused to sanction, 
•!• permit a resort to force, as he requested. 



30 

He proposed to take forcible possession of the State House, and 
public property, and asked them to sanction and authorize it. 

He admits the fact, and says, " The period for decided action had 
now arrived. If the Government were such, it was entitled to sit 
in the usual places of Legislation, to possess and control the public 
j)roperty. It was my strong opinion and desire that, when the Leg- 
islature had been organized, .... they should forthwith proceed to 
the work of legislation in the place occupied by their predecessors." 
— [Boston Address.] 

Monstrous error ! Here was the exact point, where he should 
have stopt — until his Government had been established by an ap- 
peal to the Guarantee. 

At that time, there was assend)led an armed force, deemed suflic- 
ient for that purpose, and no counter force to prevent it. 

This proposal was entertained, — postponed until the afternoon for 
consideration, — then fully debated, — and finally rejected, by a large 
majority, — as a step impolitic, ruinous and dangerous in its tenden- 
cy, both to the peace of the State, and of the United States.* 

His exercise of this power, and resort to force after this, because 
he wanted officers " to renew the conflict," alike forbidden by the 
National Constitution, and his own Legislature — furnishes — a sad 
"TEST" for the security of the rights of the people, or for the 
STABILITY of their Government ! ! ! 

ATTEMPT TO FIX HIS RESPONSIBILITY UPON HIS LEGISLAT- 
URE. 

A strange elasticity of interpreting Constitutional and Legislative 
Acts, is developed in the construction he put upon the following Reso- 
lution passed by his Legislature on the eve of its adjournment, viz : 

" Resolved, That the Governor he requested to call on all persons, 
who are in possession, or have charge, of any of the public property, 
to deliver the possession, or charge of said property, to the authori- 
ties, and officers acting under the Constitution, and Laws of this 
State." 

Three days afterwards, mortified and chagrined at the inglorious 
result of his charge upon the Arsenal, and under the panoply of 
exile, he hastened to excuse that " deplorable event" in an address 
to the people of the State, dated May 2L 

In that address, evincing in every sentence, vindictive feelings and 
sididucd -^xuXe, he attempted to shift from himself the odium of that 
adventure then every where accumulating upon him, and to Jix, the 
responsibility of it, upon his Legislature, viz : 

* Mr. Barney spoke against it, and referred complimentary to the opinion 
ihe had taken. Dorr was present. 

The late Major N. Mowry, ofSmithfield. a member of the House, one of 
the firmest and most influeniial friends of fiie Constitution, witii a palriotisni 
for wliich he was distinguished, in a short sentence, after Marshal Anthony, 
then Sheriff, reported the Court-House was denied by the State autliorities, 
killed tho proposal of Dorr quite dead ; — he said, "Mr. Speaker, I have no 
idea of breaking bolts and bars — if we cannot liave it without fighting for it, 
let us adjourn and go home." This pithy sentence had a like effect upon that 
body — as an act of his uncle Daniel Alovvry, then member of Congress, had, 
upon General Armstrong's meeting — to impeach General Washington for 
cowardice, &c. — to which he (Mr. M.) had been invited, and wiio, when ask- 
ed to impeach or not — very coolly took his hat and said, " If this is your busi- 
ness, gentlemen, I bid you good night.' The meeting dispersed I 



I 



31 

" This resolution (says he) was j)rocIaimed hy me, and /7 was part 
-of my obligation to enforce it, equally with ihe other laws of the 
State." 

I cannot understand the system of ethics, by which such a con- 
struction was put upon this resolution. In its broadest sense, it is 
not susceptible of any such interpretation. It was merely directory 
to him, to perform a simple request, which being performed, its pow- 
er ceased. 

It was not a law, imposing a penalty or mulcting a fine upon any 
one, for disobedience, or non-compliance. 

His proclamation of it, exhausted every obligation, it imposed up- 
on him ! 

By that, all persons having possession, or charge of any public 
property, were reqested to deliver it, and all Officers acting under 
the Constitution, Avere thus notified to receive it. 

It fixed no penalty for not delivering, none for not receiving. 

Much less did it contain any obligation to enforce it hy force. His 
Legislature had refused that. 

That he mistook its import is obvious from an act, passed prior to 
the passage of this resolution, entitled An Act "imposing duties upon 
licensed persons and bodies corporate m this State." 

This act made all persons, and bodies corporate, liable in suits 
by the General Treasurer, for double the amount of money or other 
property, on refusal to deliver it up, " after being duly required 
thereto}' 

The act was defective in this, that no person was designated to 
make the request, without which no suit could be brought. 

On the discovery of this omission, this resolution was subsequently 
passed, designating the Governor as the official organ of the State, 
to make the request. 

This was the only obligation it imposed upon him or any body else, 
which teas discharged by his proclamation. 

With what propriety, then, he attempted to fix upon the Legisla- 
ture, the responsibility of his own indiscretion, under color of this 
harmless simple resolution, I leave to his admirers to judge. 

DORR ALONE RESPONSIBLE. 

That the defeat of the Suffi-age cause, and overthrow of the Con- 
stitution are alone attributable, to his " ill-advised and rash meas- 
ures," will be seen by the following facts. 

LANDHOLDERS' CONSTITUTION, MARCH, 1842. 

The first in the series, as results have proved, was his obstinate 
opposition to the Landholders' Constitution, (so called) which, as 
now agreed by all, was far preferable to the ])resent one. 

Had this Constitution been adopted, it would have superceded 
the people's. I, in common with the democratic party, though 
we disapproved of some of its provisions, urged its acceptance, 
to secure the liberal provisions of suffi-age it provided, and to put 
an end to further agitation. 

Dorr was indomitable, and determined to defeat it. He de- 
clared he would not accept it, " were it word for word like the 
People's — because it emanated from the " Landholders." 

He was then Candidate for Governor, and had assumed and 
acquired an ascendancy over the Suffiage party, who were per- 



hiiiUed io vote under it, nlmost supteme. He issued his decree to 
Ihem accordingly (Old town liouse resoiutionsj Its adoption was de- 
feated by a small majority ,'produced by the votes of those,who preferred 
the Charter, of whom 1 was one.* 

Had that Constitution been accepted, however, the non-freehold- 
ers and the demecrajic party, by uniting, would have succeeded to 
the administration of the Stote government, and all trouble would 
have been avoided : Dorr possibly might have been Governor, but 
older and safer men might have againpbeen preferred. This he was 
fully aWare of Hence his^in\erest in defeating thatj Constitution. 

FACTS RELATIVE TO THE ARSENAL. 

. The attack upon the Arsenal was on the night of the 18th of May; 
In a handbill published May 21, though in circulation some days 
previous, to which the names of Hezekiah Willard and ten others, 
are appended, is the following significant language, viz. 

" We the undersigned, elected Senators and Representative's to 
the General Assembly, and to other offices under the People's Con- 
stitution, . . . in consideration of the EVILS, which we think must 
fensue to oiir common country, from our engaging in a contest with 
the General Government, .... we feel constrained to decline act- 
ing further in the several offices ioXwhich we have been elected, and 
therefore we resign. 

*' Neither can ice lior have we countenanced in any manner, the 
late mcJvemfent of the Governor, elected under the People's Corisli- 
lution ; but in every way, have endeavoured to counteract and pre- 
vent so deplorable an act, and one so destructive to the cause, in 
which we have been engaged." 

May 30j in his card. Judge Benjamin Cowell, a leading friend of 
the Constitution— ^says — " The undersigned beg leave further to state, 
ihat so far (rom approving such measures, he rcwons^ra^er;? against 
their use ; that when it was proposed to take the State-House, at the 
time the Constitutional Jiegislature met, he remonstrated with D.'s 
friepds against using any forcible measiires for that purpose." 

The deplorable act, deprecated so vehemently by his own friends, 
was the overt act of LEVYING WAR, for which he was con- 
victed. 

A€OT HILL EXPEDITION, FROM ABOUT THE 15th TO 27th JUNE, 

1842. 

His second enterprise at this memorable place; is kill less defensi" 
Die. The precise objects of the military gathering there, were not 
dt first distinctly announced, though they were generally nnderstoodi, 
From May 25, io June 2ist, lie resided principally in the city of 
New York. Rumors thence, told of formidable preparations for the 
tenewal of hostilities against the State. 

In the mean tiriie, the State Legislature, p'assed an act, calling a 
Convention to form another Constitution. The liberal basis of suff- 
rage provided, for the election of delegates, atid for voting under if 
When formed, embraced sUbstarltially the grievances complained of 

•Votes for— 8013— Against— 8689— Majority, 676. 

Whole Vote for the People's Constitution was 13,944 — Whole vote for 
Dorr, unop()osed — 6,417 — 7,527 less than for his Constitution, and O" 555 lesrf 
^han half-^ri iSee ante, page 6- 



33 

by non-freenolders, and was satisfactory to all parties, except a small 
g!-oupe of his followers in the city of Pi'ovidence and vicinity. 

PROOF. 

In a circular, dated June 24th, signed by Dutee J. Pearce, George 
C. Shaw, Sanford liell, Robert J^. Carr, Benjamin Chase, Daniel 
Brown, is the following emphatic language, viz. 

" We were opposed to the hostile movements recently made in this 
State— sonle Of us labored hard to present them : we are now opposed 
to any movements of the kind. . . ., . The late act of the Legisla- 
ture, providing for calling a Convention of the people, in Mdst of its 
jjrovisions, i/neets ou'r cordial approbation. : . . . 

,We whQ were members of the Legislature, iinder the people's Con- 
stitution long since relinquished all idea of ever again taking our 
sedts in the same. . . . We are of opinion, that under the existing 
circumstances, it would be the height of folly for that Legislature to 
attempt again to organized ,, 

In another, dated Natick, June 25th, signed by Emanuel Rice; 
ahd fifty others, speaking of the santie Actj they say — 

" That its liberBl provisions will satisfy the expectations of the great 
body of the people," and " recomniend" to their " suitrage friends ac- 
quiescence" in it. . 

In ahothei: dated at Warwick same day— signed by Pardon Spencer 
and a great number of others — ^they say— 

" We, the: undersigned, who have heretofore acted with the Suf- 
frage party arid voted for the People's ,Constitution, desire for the 
pdrpose of quieting and putting an end io i\iQ present unhappy state 
of things, .... that we deem it expedient iiilly to pcquiesce ii} the 
Act of ihe Greneral Assembly, . . . and hereby earnesi/^ recommend a 
like acquiescence on the part of all our friends." 

One more, dated June 27th, though circulated many days before; 
as will be seen below — signed by forty names published, and hun- 
dreds of others of the City and vicinity of Providence, who now ar- 
rogate to themselves the exclusive derqocracy. A^ few names serve 
to show its character — David Daniels, Waltei; S. Burgess, Hezekiah 
Willard, Samuel H. Wales, David Biirt, Tobias L. Warner, Wm, 
Slrhoris, Jun., <Sic. It is as follows : 

"TO THE SUFFRAGE MEN OF RHODE ISLAND." 

The late law of the General Assembly, contaihing in our opinion 
the substance of what we have been contending for, we heartily 
recommend its provisions to the candor of our friends, and trust that 
they will render it their undivided support. The u$e of force in 
opposition to the Government is not to be tolerated." 

Accompanying this was the following note with the Editor's com- 
ments from Walter 8. Burgess, how one of the new Dofrite demo- 
cracy, and District Attorney, and who now — ^holds, it was a " mis- 
take," that the people had not assisted Dorr, and that " if it were to 
do over again, we would push her through," in his own language. 
I rebuked my good friend, and told him I was sorry to hear him ad- 
vance such doctrine, holding the office he did; This was in 06t6f-' 
her hst. | . 



34 

COMMENTS BY THE EDITOR. 

"On the 27ih of Jjne, Waller S. Burgess, who, by the way,, did paired 
duty, distributed ball cartridges to Kill the Dorrites, ar.d hoped thatjDorr AJjn- 
gelf would perish in liis attempt to destroy the Government, wrote the follow- 
ing Letter, viz : 

•« Monday Morning, June 27, 1842. 

To the Editor of the Joirrnal : Dew Sir — Wril you have the goodness to 
insert in your Extra Journrtl, (should one be issued to-day,) the enclosed Cir- 
cular, and call upon all who have advocated the i^ufftnge cause, aa a matter of 
principle, to manifest their continued devotion to the same, by sustaining the 
Government of the State, against all force, domestic or foreign, which may 
be found arrayed against it. The patli to success in that caase is now at least, 
the path of Law and Order. • 

Yours in haste, W. S. BURGESS. 

My object in addressing the above to you is to get the Circular, which hag 
already been numerously signed, still more generally before the public. 
Please state copies of the Circular may be found at the places therein nanied^ 
Make such use of the above note as you may think j>roper. 

These circulars were circulated with great industry long before 
they appeared in the public journals — to arrest the threatening pro- 
gress of affairs at Acot HiU, under the direction of Dorr. 

On the 28th of June, the senior Editor of the Republican Herald^ 
whose daily intercourse with leading men from all parts of the State, 
enabled him to ascertain the general opinion of the people to a 
greater extent than any other individual,, in publishing these Circu 
lars, in an Editorial article, held the following language, viz : 

•' In supporting the cause of the Suffrage party, we believed from 
the beginning and believe now — thiit we were supporting the cause 
of Democracy. It was never our understanding that the principles 
were to be carried out at the expense of the life blood of any portion 
of our fellow-citizens, because the Judicial Tribunals of our country 
were always accessible— and to thai ordeal, we were willing to sub- 
mit: 

After the unhappy, ill-contrived ami illradvised proceeding of the ■ 
18th of May, we hoped, that no further rash and sanguinary meas- 
ures, would be resorted to, and we hnew that this was the General 
opinion of the great body of the Suffrage party." 

Others of like character might be added. Of the existence of 
these facts and of this general opinion^ so pointedly condemnatory 
of his conduct and measures, he was fully advised. Yet, in utter 
disregard and contempt of them, he was shdking beneath the man- 
tle of night, in the infected recesses and dark purlieus of a distant 
City, devising means and organizing forces, with an accomplice in 
premeditated mischief^ to avenge himself of his native State for hav- 
ing prevented his crimsoning her soil with the blood of her citizens 
in " sanguinary strife." (See late confessions of Michael Walsh.), 

ms EXCUSE. 

After a year's reflection, in his Boston Address, he attempts to 
excuse the tragedy of Acot Hill, under the pretence of fidelity to 
his Government, and to mainlaii* "a Session of the Legislature," he 
says : ; 

" If the great object in view, the complete estabJishnent of the 
Government, could not be immediately carried into effect, at all 
events, a Session of the Legislature could be maintained ; and the 



35 

tcork of i\ic first session, which, in w/Hf j^artkulars was left unfin- 
ished, could be completed." 

He never uttered a sentence of more momentous meaning. It 
effaces every vestige of honesty of purpose, Which charity has some- 
times allowed for his indiscretions. It rebiikes, with unblushing 
boldness, his own Legislature, for refusing, at its first session, his 
proposal to take the State House by force. 

It boldly avows " the establishment of the Government, and the 
maintenance '•' of a Session of the Legislature," by the slaughter 
and butchery of his fellow citizens, if necessary, while his own per- 
son was shielded from liarm, by a body guard of imported " Spar- 
tans !" 

Where this Session was to be maintained is left indefinite. By 
the act of adjournment, as appears of record, it was to be held at 
Providence, on the first Monday of July. 

It could meet, therefore, at no other place, unless otherwise or- 
dered by his proclamation for its safety. A power conferred by the 
Constitution. 

No such proclamation, or if such, I never saw it, was ever made, 
or at least, ever officially announced. No summons ever issued to 
the members to assemble at Chepatchet. It could not, therefore, 
meet at Acot Hill. No Session was held, or attempted to be held. 

But what renders this excuse, still more astonishing, there was no 
^uch Legislature in existence, at that time. 

Most of its members, two or three before the Session, who im- 
mortalized the " FOUNDRY," had long before, resigned and 
abandoned the Government, and as Messrs. Pearce, and others, had 
declared, " all attempt to meet again to organize, would be the 
height of folly." (See also official correspondence between the au- 
thorities of this State and Daniel Webster, Secretary of the United 
States, counnunicated to Congress, by President Tyler.) Hisown 
version of it, is thus, viz : 

" Several of these members of the Legislature joined in addressing 
me a letter, to announce their resignation — and that, their support, 
and that of the citizens, was withdrawn from me." 

Is his excuse then consistent with these facts, of which he here 
admits he had notice five weeks before this mad attempt to maintain 
a Session 1 Let the public judge. My respect and charity for him 
restrain further comment ! 

HE ADVISED AND CONTROLLED THE ASSEMBLAGE WITHOUT 
ADVISEMENT OF HIS NEW MILITATY OFFICERS. 

Walsh's statement is supported by Dorr himself, nearly two years 
before, and shows that, while in the City of New York, he procured 
the assemblage al Chepatchet, and subsequently controlled it, with- 
out the advice of a Council of his officers, which he had ordered to 
meet there for consultation. Here are his own words, viz : 

" An order was sent to convene a Council of Military Officers at 
Chepatchet, to determine whether it were feasible to make any 
movement at present, and if so, in what manner. No such Electing, 
or Council was held." The admissions of both, " Principal,'^ and 
Walch, his " Accomplice,'" harmonize and support each other. 

He left New York, on the 21st, for, and arrived at Chepatchet* 
June 23-4, in the night. The order must have been sent before the 
assemblage; and, therefore, procured it. 



36 

Wl^at other directions it contained are not disclosed ! Sufficient 
13 it, an order was sent, and his new Officers appointed by himself, 
in contravention of his Constitution and his Legislature, did not meet 
in Council. 

No determinatioti, no advice upon the "feasibility," of" any move- 
ment," was had or given ! Yet, on his arrival, in contempt of all 
these proofs, condemning his conduct and measures, and without even 
" the screen of a military council," for a colorable excise, he cs- 
5<^mef? command of the heterogeneous firces there assembled-:— exercised 
them in martial tactics, both offensive and defensive— orppomfed 
NEW, — remoddkd the rank of old officers, and again Levied 
War against both the State and United States. 

In the face of all these circumstances, one would ^uppose he 
would have paused in the further prosecution of his sanguinary pur- 
poses — especially after his fatal experience of the desertion of his 
forces and officers at the Arsenal, as he admits, viz : 

" Most of the men had returned to their places of abode in the 
City." Quern Deus mat dementat. 

FAI]^.URE OF ARMS— RESIGNATIONS. 

In his address May 21st, he says, — " I cannot conclude this com- 
munication without reminding you that, your Constitution being 
founded in right and justice, cannot be overthrown by a failure 
OF ARMS, or by the resignation of those elected to office under it." 

The proposition, that a Constitution cannot be overthrown by " a 
failure of arms," is oinew coinage, in the science of Government or 
history. It is a perfect anomaly in our Republican system, and a 
** non sequiter" from any hypothesis. 

History proves that Governments have been overthrown by the 
success of arms, and Rhode-Island affords another example. 

The very acts, in which Dorr was engaged, refute his own pro- 
position. But, by what right did he employ arms at all ? 

If his Constitution " was founded in right and justice," he was 
inhibited from resorting to arms, and obligated to apply to the Tri- 
bunals of his country, " to whose ordeal,"> the Editor of the Herald 
tells us the great body of the Suffrage party, was willing to submit. 

The proposition itself, transposes the order of things, and makes 
" a failure of arrns," an actual aggression. The seige tipon the 
Arsenal, makes folly of his own hypothesis \ The Constitution then 
was overthrown, not onlyby/orfc of arras, but, by a failure of arms 
wrongly used — a result exactly the reverse of the one asserted I 

Resignation is a defeasible right in any officer. I admit resigna- 
tions of its mernbers, under an established government, do not '^per 
S€" overthrow it. They suspend its organization for the time being 
only. The remedy is a neio election of new officers by the people. 
But, in the organization of a new Government where the people fail 
or refuse to make a Jicw election, the resignation of its officers does 
overthrow the Constitution, as effectually as a Charter of a body cor- 
porate is forfeited and overthro\Yn,, by nonuser, or a failure in com- 
plying with its provisions. 

Although the proposition may be partially correct in an established 
government, yet, it is not so in the sense he used it, nor in the case 
to which he applied it. 



3T 



CONSTirrTlON ABANDONED BY ALL. 

I'lie refusal of the people to make a new election, and to supply 
tiie places of those resigned, as provided in Article 5-(), Section r>-{\, 
of his Constitution, viz : " Yacancies may he fdled hy a new elec- 
tion," not only approved their resignation, but coxijirnud their ahan-. 
jlonment of the Government ! 

This astounding admonition of the people, (which he admits, he 
knew on the 2 1st of May, previous,) whose soverti<rn ivill he ))ro- 
fesses tq fojlow and obey, should have W!;rned \\\\\\ agaiii§|. his Acot 
Hill Tragedy — for, as their resignation, on their part — so was the 
refusal of the peo[)le, to n^ake a v\e\\ election, an abandoiimpnt of the 
Constitution and Government — on their part. 

Yet he persisted — and astonishing as it is — after a tw»lvermonth 
reflection, in attempting to excuse this Qyiiotic fhvpvmrnt, U\. 
MAINTAIN A Session OF A LEGISLATURE" that |iad uo existence ; and 
to " ESTABLISH A GOVERNMENT"' abatuloned, both by its officers and 
people, he could not prrmit himself to believe, that the rausc ivas 
surrendered— ^nd deliberately denied that, the people approve(| 
pf the resignation of its members ! 

In again alluding to this subject, he says : 

'^ I reply that the rights of the case were not taj-en away by tl^p 
failure of arms, nor could I be permitted to believe that the cau!;;e 
WAS SURRENDERED BY ITS FRIENDS. The course puisued by tl^; 
Representatives of Providence, and of other places was not approved 
by the people.''' 

Nor was it until the State and the United States, whose Constitu- 
tion he had offended, had summoned their energies to interpose an(| 
to protect their citizens from the threatened scenes of bloodshed, 
that he " permitted" himself to awaken from his stoic frenzy that ha4 
betrayed hiui into such culpable excesses. Let the closing scene t(n 
the drama he enacted serve to warn aspirants to distinction, in tlie 
future against the errors oif a precocious judgment, the dangers of tij 
licentious ambition, and the follies of an obstinate indulgence. 

« Gloucester, R. I. June 27th, 1842. 
" Having received such information as induces me to believe that a ma-, 
jority of the friends of the People's Constitution, hisapprove of any further 
forcible measures for its support : and believing that tlie conflict of arms wouM 
therefore, under existing circumctances, be hut a. personal controversy amoug 
different portions of our citizens: I hereby direct that, the military here as-, 
szmbled bt dismissed by their respective officers. 

T.\y. DORR, Comm^7;lde^: in Chiefs 



PART SECOND. 



.\U!LMN OF 1842,— STATE OF AFFAIRS. 

PUBLIC FEELING. 

The suppression of tlie disturbances and outrages, whicli Dorr had 
committed and promoted, had created a deep feeHng in our commu- 
nity, and had shaken society and tlie civil institutions of the State to 
their verv centres. Tlie seat of his warlike movements was in the 
county of Providence, and northern section of the State. 

The summons of the late Government, to the military and the peo- 
ple, wiio readily and patriotically responded 'hereto, had drawn the 
n)ilitia, farmers, njechanics and all, from the southern sections of 
the State, (the stronjr holds of the old democratic party) and com- 
])elled themto leave their business, then farms, and their homes, to 
the care and culture of their wives and their daughters at that busy 
season of the year : not to repel an invasion by a foreign foe, dese- 
crating their soil with hostile foot, but to mingle in deadly conflict, 
with their own citizens, their own kindred and their own friends, 
with whom they had so Jong maintained social, political and friend- 
ly relations. 

These considerations and these events, as naturally would be sup- 
posed, aroused feelings of horror and indignation in the whole com- 
munity, except in the bosoms of a tew in the infected districts, against 
Dorr, and which remains unabated in all, with the exception of a 
few aspiring demagogues who hope to elevate tliemselves by a pre- 
tended and hypocritical clemency for the unfortunate condition to 
which he has reduced himself. 

These feelings were common to all parties, and were indignantly 
^expressed by all. It is impossible to describe them. 

THE DORR PARTY PROPER. 
ilii order to comprehend the connexion and application of subse- 
^^uent developments, it becomes necessary to describe the true char- 
acter of the Dorr party proper. 

It was a pecidiar and isolated genus or species. From this time to 
June 1844, when Dorr was committed, the Dorr party proper may 
be classified under its representatives, my worthy friends, John S. 
Harris, John L.Johnson, Albion N. Olney, and other Federalists of 
the old school of similar stamp, who, from Federalism, through all the 
phases oi Anti-Masonry, Temperance and Abolition, finally collap- 
sed into ultra Dorrism. 

This " GENUS " is sufficiently distinctive, where it is known. — It 
embraces and now comprises every compound of political sects — all 
ingredients of any tendencies to reduce others to its own level and 
embodies the' leaders, promoters and most obnoxioue participants iu 



;39 

the Inte distiirbftnces, from the Collector, the Marshal, tlio Attorney, 
the Postmaster of the District, throughout the Alphahct ! ! ! 

THE RELATIONS BETWEEN DORR AND HIS J»ARTY. 

Dorr was in exile, shunning j)unishineiit for his crinits, and cra- 
ving protection at the hands of the generous democracy of the Gr;inite 
State. 

The sun of his gh)ry cast liis gloomy shadt-M ujion tiie picturesque 
scenery of Westmoreland, and slied his tears upon tlu; fcrtdi/.cd inter* 
vales of the noble Connecticut. The siditude was only enlivened 
by that portion of our community, the nohie yeomanry, whdse hearts 
are ever open to distress, and whose symj)athies readdy extend com- 
fort and consolation. 

His party at home were vanquished, paralysed and deppon<Ient ! ! 

Without political capital, tliey became restive and disturbed. 

The people of the State and their legislature were engaged in the 
work of organizing a new Constitution. 

In this crisis of alfairs, they saw something must be done, to save 
themselves and Dorr from utter extinction. 

The resolution to redeem themselves, and to gain the sympathies 
of the public was mutually undertaken. 

Dorr on his part, though despising his party for their treachery and 
desertion — his party on their part, though contemning him for his 
ill advised measures, which had precipitated them into fearfid res- 
ponsibilities — mutually yeilded their hostile feelings, opened a cor- 
respondence and arranged the details of future action. 

FALSE ISSUE. 

Dorr, under a mistaken view of State sovereignty, seized upon 
the isolated issue, which every one, who has looked into the system 
of our Government must admit, — " That the people have a right to 
form a Constitution for themselves" and urged that he was the vic- 
tim of asserting this principle. 

This delusive and plausible representation, in the absence of coun- 
ter proof, naturally gained for him and his party, the sympathies of 
generous Democracy. 

While he assumed this position, he disingenuously secreted the 
criminal steps he had taken to maintain it. 

Had he disclosed his uwarrantable compact with other States for 
foreign aid, to resist and encounter the " lawful interposition of the 
Government of the U. States which, he calls '"'AN ASSAULT UP- 
ON THE RIGHTS OF THE STATE" and thus to involve 
that Democracy whose protection he had obtained under false col- 
ours, he must have been immediately surrendered up on the requisi- 
tion of the State authorities. 

This is evident from the views and grounds assumed in Gov. Hub- 
bard's letter, assigning the reasons for not surrendering him to Lem- 
uel H, Arnold, Replaces his refusal alone, on the ground of a 
" political offence." But had Gov. Hubbard known all the facts,, 
from my knowledge of his patriotism and devotion to the Constitu- 
tion, since his first speech in a Democratic Assembly at Keene in' 
1826, he would have recoiled from affording aid and succor, even 
to a friend the most valuable, who had thus violated that Constitu- 



40 

tion, fop rui igiiohle an(] treasonable purpose, froinduty and a fear of 
incurring the eonsecjuences of" an accessary after the fact." 
THE MODE OF ACTIOIS. 

Clamliakcs. — Ladies' fetes, — liosannalis and l)allelnjalis were re- 
isdrted to by iiis party, to stiniuldte iie\^ exeitions and to excite naw 
bo[)es, botli at home :ind abl'oad; 

Resolutions, with the iniprints of the evergreens of Westmoreland, 
iauding the " Cllilnlpion" of cdnstittltional freedom — the " 3Iartyr 
of the people's rights" — whom si.-t months before^ they had treacher- 
biisly deserted and denounced as u truitol*; were passed with enthu- 
siastic acclamations ! ! ! 

Nothinjr beydnd these attempts to excite ffdse syiiipatliies, was a- 
greed upon or looked to. No organization for action was proposed, 
other than to agitilte and disturb the tranquility of the State, and 
jireservej the Sovereignty." 

LAW AND OKDER-NEW CONSTITUTION— DORR ADVISES NO 
ASiiENT TO IT. 

The people's Constitution was subverted; No further proceedings 
could be liad under it — Tire present Constitution was being formed. 
The Dorr party disclaimed all participation with it. 

Jt was adopted,' and became obligatory alike upon all by their ac- 
tiiMland implied consent. 

The unhappy difficulties had divided the old Democratic party,' 
and broken up its old ors^anization; 

A large number in the city and county of Providence, with Gov- 
ernors Fenner — Francis — Bullock &,c. at their head, and nearly all 
the South, for State purposes and the maintenance of the Govern- 
ment, from friends of the sutiVage cause, had become opponents, of 
the measures Dorr and his party had adopted. 

The/ had united with the Whigs and formed a State Conservative 
party, dndef the title of "Law and Order." 

Other republicans refused all alliances with aiiy— tliough they re- 
mained favorably inclined towards the Suffrage party, which unfor- 
tunately refused tlieir assent to the netv Constitution. 

I'his refusal was at the siiggestion of Dorr. The Constitution 
■\Vas adopted under protest of his party, on the grounds, that it was 
or would be adopted, by a minority of the people and under terror 
of the interposition of marshal Law. 

Still entertaining hopes of resuscitating his constitution. Dorr, it 
seems, became fearful his party would register their names under 
the new Constitution, and thereby acknowledge its validity,- and 
thus compromise the cause for which he and they had been con- 
tending. 

The source from which this opposition to ihe new Constitution" 
originated, and which determined his party to withhold their assent 
to it, (although their assent was legally enforced by their refusal to 
^ote on its adoption,) will be se6n by the following from his owrf 
pen. 

He says—" The friends of the people's Constitution generally 
protested, against the proceedings of their opponents. . . < 

A question immediately arose among the Suffrage party, whether 
Inderal] circumstances considered, tbey ought to register them- 



41 

selves under this new Constitution, and contest the ensuing State 
election." 

At the time, it was boldly stated, such a step would not be tolera- 
ted, by the party, and my humble self was denounced in the Herald 
office, by Harris and Co. tor ad\isinjr it, as the only course left them 
to assert their riglils through the Ballot Box. Nor did 1 know then 
the source of their opposition, although they declared Dorr would 
never consent to it. 

How this opposition was overcome, and how the party was or- 
ganized, will soon be seen. 

MOVEMENT OF THE UNPLEDGED DEMOCRACY— ORIGIN OF THE 
STATE CONVENTION, NOV. 29. 

In the confusion and distracted state of parties, we of the old 
school democracy, who had adhered to our old fashioned republi- 
can principles, and shunned all entangling alliances with modern 
heresies, without any reference to Dorr — conceived it was time to 
attempt to recover from the fatal consequences those heresies had 
inflicted upon the State, and place the Democratic pjrty once more 
in an attitude, in which we might co operate with tlie great Repub- 
lican party of the country, and be recognized as such by them, dis- 
tinct from Law and Order and the Dorr party proper. 

Accordingly in September, at a social festival of old democrats 
and suffrage men, at the hospitable mansion of Joseph Whipple, 
Esq., in Cumberland, I took the liberty to suggest a reorganization 
of the Democratic party, and the feasibility of commencing it in thai 
town. This proposal was favorably received. 

On the '22d of October, a primary meeting of the citizens of that 
town was holden, to which I had the honor of a special invitation, 
and a Democratic State Convention was cheerfully proposed to be 
holden November 29. 

When I arrived in company with Samuel Weatherhead Esq., who 
is among our most valuable and ablest men, we were surprised that 
the Dorr party had been instigated to action from some source or 
other, and had prepared a set of resolutions (18 in number) upon 
Clambakes — the Ladies — Gov. Dorr, &c., not one of them contain- 
ing any mode or suggesting any plans of action. 

I had prepared a preamble and resolutions. 

A committee was appointed and the Dorrite resolutions were read 
by them. Mr. Weatherhead, who was on the Committee offered 
mine, and they were accepted — reported to the meeting and adopted, 
without a dissenting voice, except Olney Ballon Esq. objected to a 
compliment paid to President Tyler for his Roman virtue in vetoing 
the National Bank. An act — for which the Democracy, and future 
ages can never sufficiently respect him ! That act under the circum- 
stances, revived the hopes of the Democratic party — and gave an 
impulse to it throughout the country^ 

THE PLAN AND OBJECT OF ORGANIZING. 

The plan embraced two objects. First. The reorganization of the 
Democratic party on its old issues, so as to reunite the South with 
the Democracy of the North — and to take measures to be represent- 
ed, in the then distant National Convention for the nomination of 
President and Vice-President. 6 



12 

Second, To let in all of the euffrnge party, who might choose to 
act with us for these purposes, as the following extracts from the 
preamble and resolutions prepared by myself show. 

" Whereas, the Democratic party of tins State, has in a great 
measure, \osi lis, partisan organization — and ivhereas during the late 
political agitations ill this Slate, some of its professed adherents have 
seceded and allied themselves with their former j)olitical foes — and 
whereas an organization of the Democratic party of this State is de- 
sirable, that its friends may act in concert with each other, and 
more especially with their Democratic brethren in other States, iil 
accomplishing the great political reform they have bego, and of 
restoring the government to those constitutional principles, on which 
'ihe liberties of the country can alone be sustained." 

" Resolved, that we recognise the right of the people to institute, 
alter, change and amend their form of Government, whenever they 
choose, to be the fundamental and inherent principle of true De- 
mocracy." 

Resolved, that we will exert and use all proper means and hereby 
earnestly request our friends to do likewise to cause, this State to be 
duly represented in such National Convention," 

Dorr had no more to do in originating these proceedings, than he 
Jiad in originating the Suffrage Association. This was a movement 
of the Democracy, who had not joined either the Suffrage or Law 
and Order party. 

Hence the title adopted for the Convention was — " The friends 
of Democracy and of equal rights." 

The latter words became necessary for the co-operation of the 
Suffrage party, who had then acquired the appellation of Dorrites, 
and who were mostly of opposite political sentnnents, but who had 
become violently opposed to the Law and Order party. 

These were the objects of the reorganization. 

IIEMOVAL OF OPPOSITION TO THE NEW CONSTITUTION. 

To obviate the objection of Harris &. Co. to the new Constitution^ 
and lead the minds of the proposed convention to recommend regis- 
tering under it, as the only alternative left them to assert their rights 
through the ballot box — at a large primary meeting of the citizens of 
Providence of which Gen. Carpenter was President, holden on the 
7th of November, I prepared resolutions for it, of which the follow- 
ing is one, and as Chairman of a select committee reported them as 
the record shows— viz :— " The committee on Resolutions, by their 
Chairman, Dexter Randall, reported the following" — viz: 

Resolved, that as friends of Democracy and equal rights, we ad- 
here with fidelity to the republican doctrine, that great political 
changes ought and should be effected through, and by the aid of pub- 
lic opinion, and that, we will use our utmost efforts, to promote such 
political changes, whenever it becomes necessary, through the legiti- 
mate medium of the ballot box," 

These resolutions were designed to give a tone to others in the dif- 
ferent towns to induce registering and to enforce action, through the 
ballot boxes. Similar ones were passed in Gloucester under the ad- 
yisement of Mr. Atwell, who approved ours- 



43 

The proceedings of this meeting offended Harris, 6c Co. as the/ 
revolted at the ballot box, under the new Constitution, and were de- 
*Nputclicd to the Exile in Westmoreland, and brought forth from him 
the subjoined letter to which special attention is invited. 

DORR CONTEMNS THE BALI OT-BOX AND STICKS TO THE 
SWORD-IMPERTINENTLY INTERFERES WITH THE CONVEN- 
TION : CHASTISES THE DEMOCRACY OF PROVIDENCE AND 
GLOUCESTER ; TRADUCES HIS FRIEND E^J\1S AND PRESl- 
DEJ^T TYLER. 

Harris 4* Co. in the nieantime stealthily exerted themselves to pro- 
cure Delegates to the Convention of their own lend, in order to resist 
registering and to control its deliberations. In this, they were too 
successful, aided as they were, by my friend Ciirriugton Anthony, 
now Marshal of the District, whose house during the war, was Dorr's 
Military Camp, and the receptacle of some strange events which I 
forbear to disclose. 

We of the old Democratic party, suspected nothing amiss, until we 
saw lists of delegates from the several Towns, comprising to our ut- 
ter surprise, old Federalists whom, we had uniformly opposed, and 
characters of every hue and shade, announced as delegates to the 
Democratic Convention ! Our apprehensions were fully realized on 
the meeting of that body, 

While these proceedings were in progress here, Dorr was enga- 
ged in preparing other despatches for the Convention. 

My Providence, and Col. Atwell's Gloucester Resolutions excited 
his wrath, who, it seems, insanely entertained hopes of reviving his 
abandoned Constitution, and again exercising the functions of Chief 
Magistrate. 

On the 26th of November, only three days before the meeting of 
the Convention, he despached to Harris, his Prime-Minister in mis- 
chief, and the treacherous inventor of the reported compromise on the 
morning of May 19, which Dorr so severely reprobated in his Bos- 
ton Address, the letter alluded to. 

These facts will enable all to see readily, who are included in the 

(clique of «fc Co.) of professed Democrats whom, he so 

hastily chastises therein. 

The character and tenor of the letter are sui generis, and in direct 
opposition to the preamble and resolutions of theCumberland meeting, 
Here is the evidence and source of all difficulties. 

EXTRACT. 

"Westmoreland, N. H., Nov. 26, 1842'. 
"Dear Sir. — The meeting of the Democratic Republican State Con- 
vention, in Providence, on Tuesday, the 29th, is regarded abroad, as well 
as in the State, with great interest, and we are all anxious that nothing 
should be done to lower the high standard of popular rights and sovereignty, 
which has been raised by the Suffrage party. . . . But the resolutiom 
which have been passed in some of the towns, at meetings of professed 
Democrats, repudiating hi effect, the principles for which, we have been contend- 
ing, . . . may well occasion some alarm. ... Is it possible that there art 
any considerable number of Democrats in Rhode Island, (out of the clique 

of , ^- Co.) who are ready to throw away the good will of 

their brethren abroad, and to sever the bond, which unites them to ther 
cause ? It seems incredible, that there should be ; and yet the passage of 



44 

resolutio7is similar in spirit lo those, adopted by the Democratic meetings in 
Gloucester and Providence, will produce the effect so much, deprecated. • • . . 
For God's sake do not permit our cause to meet such an ignoble termination. 
... If the Convention of the Democratic Republican Party, fully and 
fah-lv represented, shall come to the conclusion, tliat the people of the 
State have no right, to amend their institutions except by permissioji of the 
Authorities and through the ballot-boxes, under the landed system as set 
forth in the PRoricENCE resolutions — then / have no hesitation in say- 
ing that / shall consider the popular cause, in Rhode-Island at an end, 
and MYSELF and associates, as expatriated by the voluntary act of our 
friends." (After hoping the Convention, would not endorse the Vetoes of 
John Tyler, and showering upon him a sufficiency of abuse, &c. he adds:) 

" Will you show this letter to the Providence delegation, to 

and to others, in your discretion. I am anxious that this request should be 
complied icith." [Signed] 

THOMAS W. DORR. 

It is presumed this letter was addressed to Harris, as he read an 
extract from it, in the Convention of the 29tli, in reference to Mr. 
Ennis aud President Tyler, which produced an angry Jlarc-np be- 
tween that gentleman and himself, aud from the fact that, it was first 
published in the Washington Globe, about the 25th of December 
1844, while Harris was a feed witness and amanuensis on Burke's 
Report at Washington. 

The hauteur and dictatorial contents of this extraordinary letter, 
would never have been publicly known, though its secret and blight- 
ing eftects have poisoned the current, and impeded the success of 
Democracy in the State, had not the indiscretion, or selfish purposes 
of Harris caused its publication as aforesaid. 

Whether its publication procured his nomination, by President 
Polk, for Collector at Providence, or induced its withdrawal from 
the probable rejection of the Senate, remains among the hidden 
mysteries of Dorrism ! ! ! 

To this audacious, impertinent and domineering letter and its in- 
fluences, exerted by Harris & Co. over the deliberations of the Con- 
vention, are to be attributed the hostile divisions between the 
Democratic and Dorrite parties ever since. 

By it, every attempt to conciliate the democracy of the South, was 
met, by an opposition and threats, that the Dorr party, would with- 
draw. These were accpiiesced in, at first, by old republicans, who 
still tho.ght they could prevail on the Dorrites, to see their errors, 
and tc induce them to acts of conciliation. 

But in vain. Every concession widened the breach and gave 
them renewed assurances of their potency and power. 

The date of the above letter and the simultaneous proceedings of 
the Convention, develope a coincident, which reproves Dorr's assur- 
ance, and his officious intermeddling with its councils, with a severity 
both just and retributive. 

While I was asserting and maintaining what, T deemed to be the 
just limits of state sovereignty, under our system of republican Cov- 
ernment, and advising his duped and betrayed devotees, to acknowl- 
edge the Constitution, and prepare themselves to seek and assert 
their rights, in a peaceable manner, through the legitimate medium 
of the ballot box, Thomas W. Dorr, safely ensconced, as a beguiled 
exile, under the generous protection of New Hampshire Democracy, 



45 

v/ns libelling and falsely chastising the (clique of & Co.) the 

old democrats of Providence and GInnccster, among the latter of 
whom, is my staunch old friend, Amasa Eddy Esqr. his own lAaiteti- 
ant G^tft'cr/io/-, for a supposed advocacy of tiie doctrine, " Tiiat tin; 
people of a State have no right to amend their institutions without 
permission of the authorities and through the " Ballot Boies. '''' 

Yes, on the very day, he was traducing us, for maintaining the 
laws and seeking redress, by peaceable and legal measures, which 
he declared would, if adopted by the convention, "expatriate himself 
and associates" and " repudiate the principles he and they had been 
contending for," I was preparing at my then country residence, 
alone and unadvised by mortal else, the following resolutions, which 
I had the honor to report for the Select ('ommittee, to the convention 
and which were enthusiastically adopted, viz. — 

Resolved, That all sovereigntij resides in the people ; that the 
right of the people to govern themselves, and to establish their own 
Government, is an inalienable and indefeasible attribute of sovereignty 
itself. Therefore, when acting in their sovereign capacity, no law or 
forms, not ordained by themselves, can have any ejjieacy over, or con- 
trol upon their acts. Because, to say, their acts must he regulated by 
Laiv, rohich themselves have not ordained for their oivn government, is 
to admit another sovereign power, superior to themselves, from which 
the Lajo emanated. 

Resolved. That the people of this State, in the exercise of their 
sovereign right, have in their sovereign capacity FORMED A CON- 
STITUTION, which has been adopted by a majority of the people,, 
and "of RIGHT, ought to be , THE SUPREME LAW." 

I forbear remark. If self reproach has not lost its efficacy, I leave 
him to its salutary admonitions ! ! ! 

These I'esolutions, right or wrong, were the results of my own re- 
flections, upon the absolute sovereignty of the people of the U. States 
over their government, and the qualified and restricted sovereignty 
of the people of a State, over their State government. 

They were intended at the time, as is clearly perceived by the 
second resolution, to mark the points, where State sovereignty 
should stoj), and where the grant of the guarantee begins and inter- 
poses. They w: re designed to rebuke the errors of Dorrism for re- 
sorting to force. 

But the stupidity and inkling for mischief, of Harris & Co. saw not 
their import, or if they did, they disregarded the lessons they 
taught. 

Notwithstanding all this, the poisoned influences of the Exile's let- 
ter, defeated the other resolution reported — recommending " to reg- 
ister and be prepared to assert their rights at the Ballot-Boxes." 

This resolution was rejected Avith acclamations and a deafening 
uproar, which plainly evinced they neither understood their own 
rights, nor regarded the courtesies of parliamentary decorum. 

By its rejection, the Convention was on the point of dissolution. 
Dorrism become excited into infuriated paroxisms of savage tri- 
umph. 

The old Democrats who had originated the Convention, and 
favored registering, were cast into the minority, and the following 
resolution was adopted, in spite of all reason and argument, viz: 



46 

" Ami Whereas, the Government De-facto, of this State, liave 
furmefl another (Constitution, in contravention of this sovereign 
power : And whereas, tiiere is reason to apprehend that, said Con- 
stitution is intended to he imposed upon tlie people, against their 
consent — tlierefore, Resolved, That we do, for ourselves, and the 
])eo|)le, solctnnhj protest against the same and the manner of its 
adoption."" 

This resolution was suggested and urged hy Dr. Ariel Ballon of 
Cumberland, who, in committee, requested me to reduce it into form, 
hut not then aware of the secret agency that directed it, and dissent- 
ing from its drift and policy, I refused and gave it up to him. I also 
opposed it in Convention, but it was passed with Dorrite acclama- 
tion. 

In the confusion, I moved an adjournment until morning to give 
lime for reflection. This was agreed to. 

In the meantime, the Democratic members, Col. Thomas S. Tay- 
lor at tiieir head, had concluded, that unless Dorrism became more 
rational and concihatory, to secede, and abandon all further attempts 
Ut organizing the party. 

On meeting in the morning, a better spirit manifested itself, and a 
further adjournment to December 20th, was agreed to, to enable "the 
species" to consult and obtain Dorr's consent to their registering 
under the new Constitution, which was suggested in a iew remarks 
of mine, in defining my own, and the position of the Democratic par- 
ty — indicating clearly what would be our future course. 

The character of the proceedings, drove off some Republicans, 
who were delegated to the Convention, and who expected, and had 
a right to expect, from the source and manner from which, it ema- 
nated, that the Democratic party was to assume its old position. 

The above resolution and one or two others of a similar import, 
caused much difficidty with the President, Wilmarth Aldrich Esq. — - 
He refussd to sign them as a part of the proceedings, on account of 
their impolitic tendency, but was finally prevailed upon to do so, and 
they were published immediately. 

DORR COMPELLED TO THE BALLOT-BOX. 

Harris »& Co, became again more active. Special deputations — 
letters — addresses and these proceedings Avere despatched to New- 
H impshire. He was consulted, entreated and solicited to gracious- 
ly yield his consent to the Constitution, and condescendingly to per- 
mit, his loyal subjects, to acknowledge the validity of the very Gov- 
ernnent under which, they lived and were protected : but at first with- 
out effect. 

Still impelled uy his own visionary convictions of his assumed 
right, to use forcible measures, which he denominates in his letter, 
" the high standard of popular rights and sovereignty, raised by the 
Suffrage party," and " anxious that nothing should be done to lower 
it," he remained dogmatic and intangible. 

Nor was his intangibility reached and subdued, until the late Coi. 
Wm. Simons, the mutual and confidential friend of both parties, ar- 
rived at Concord, and assembled the democracy of the Legislative 
Council, with Gov. Hubbard in the Chair, that Dorr was induced to 
yield his assent, and give the solicited permission ! ! ! 



By the unitetl advice of that meeting, nccording to the remarks of 
tifov. Hubbard, as reported by Col. Simons, viz : — "that under the 
circumstances, to register was the only altcrnatirc hft to the Suf- 
frage party to pursue,'^ was his obstinate determination over- 
come. 

Induced by a momentary sense of gratitude for his protection, h^" 
was COMPELLEiD and enjoined to transmit his sovereign pleasure, 
to his now leige subjects, who had disabled his pieces at the Arsenal 
— and deserted his standard only five months before, graciously to 
allow them to exercise the rights of s2/frage, for which he and they 
had waged civil war to obtain, and to acknowledge the Constitution, 
which protected their homes and families, from the torch of the in- 
cendiary, and the depredations of the lawless ! ! ! 

HE VIOLATES THE INJUNCTIOIM. 

Though his consent was thus compelled and extorted — yet, in his 
private dispatches to his " FAITHFULS," in derogation of the posi- 
tive, or implied injunction of the concentrated Democracy of the 
noble Old Granite State, he annexes a protest and condition, and 
orders every man to obey it, and, " not to remit his exertions, until 
his Constitution shall become in fact, as it is in right, the para- 
mount law of the State." 

The injudicious resolution of Ballon above, passed on the 29th 
of November, inspired in him new hopes — revived his despondency, 
and produced from him the following countermand of Gov. Hub- 
bard's alternative " to the species,'^ \'ii : 

" December 7, 1842. This cause (the Sovereignty) in the State 
of Rhode-Island, though cast down, is not destroyed. No man 
worthy of the name, who has been engaged in the suffrage ranks, 
will remit his exertions, until the Constitution (the People's) shall 
become in fagTj as it is in Ricuit, the paramount law of the 
State." 

This countermand of his compelled consent to " the species," 
produced an instantaneous meeting of them, in this City — its lan- 
guage was embodied into a resolution, by his prime minister, Harris, 
published and circulated through the State, as a pioneer to others of 
similar import, to overawe and control again the Convention, to be 
holden by adjournment, on the 20th of December. 

A sample of which is the following, passed by some half dozen of 
" THE species," at Clayville, December 10th, viz. 

" Resolved, That we cordially respond to the call of our brethren 
in the city of Providence, which recommends organizing under the 
Algerine Constitution, for the purpose of overthrowing the power of 
the USURPERS, and re-establishing the People's Constitution." 

Thus was his solemn pledge, yielded to Gov. Hubbard, and the 
Democracy of the Granite State, perfidiously violated, and every 
vestige of manly gratitude for the safety of his person, when Lemuel 
H. Arnold, was sent by Gov. King, to demand his surrender, swept 
away, by the unrestrained impulses of his indomitable will, over his 
deluded partizans, and by his unchastened inclinations for agitation 
and civil strife ! ! ! 

Such were the degrading — humiliating — humbling — and submis- 
sive means, both to the Democracy of New Hampshire and Rhode 



48 

Island, wliich forced and compelled, this " Chatupion of Constitu- 
tional Freedom,'" and " Martyr,'" in the cause of the people, to 
yield momentarily, his grasp on the sword, and give his consent and 
prrtnit his vassals to seek his and their rights through the " legitimate 
medium of the Ballot Boxes," as my Providence, and Atwell's 
Gloucester Resolutions had recommended ! ! 

And yet — because — this man now, no longer ago than September 
5th last, at a Clambake in Morris' Grove, prepared at the instance of 
the fairer and softer Sex, whose tender hearts are ever attuned to the 
entreating tones of suffering misfortune, has become a convert to the 
Ballot Box, " the Species," cast up hosannas, for the " illustrious 
advocate" of rational and regulated freedom ! ! ! 

^ THE SECOND INTERFERENCE WITH THE CONVENTnN. 

At the adjourned Session of this body, December '^Oth, after all, 
Registering was reluctantly agreed to, and not until the following 
resolution, after a warm and energetic debate upon its impropriety 
and pernicious tendency in Committee, at the Aldrich House, and 
after softening the tone and expleting still more offensive language, 
as it came from Westmoreland, (for I saw the original and recogniz- 
ed the manuscript,) was forced upon the Convention, by John S. 
Harris, under repeated " threats that without some such declaration, 
the Dorrites would not consent to act longer with the Democratic 
party :" viz : 

" Resolved, That in recommending this course, and in order to 
avoid all doubt, or misconstruction of our purposes, we explicitly 
avow our object to be, to accomplish in a satisfactory manner, and 
with the least possible delay, the establishment in fact as well as 
IN right, of the People's Constitution." 

This resolution, I opposed, as of the same tendency of the War- 
wick and Clayville resolutions, previously passed by the directions of 
Dorr as above explained, and, of putting into the hands of our oppo- 
nents a weapon, by which our own defeat would be certainly accom- 
plished. 

A vote was taken in Committee upon it, in its modified form, and 
it was agreed to be inserted, (Harris selecting the place) as the 14, 
with the°other resolutions, which I had prepared to accompany my 
address, by a bare majority, produced by the temporizing yielding of 
my old friend, John R. Waterman 1 

This fatal resolution, and others in the difKerent towns, all emena- 
ting from the same alloyed mint, forced upon the democratic Con- 
vention under such circumstances, placed in the hands of our oppo- 
nents, the dagger of self-destruction ! 

They frightened our republican friends in the southern section of 
the State, whose prejudices against Dorr and every one connected 
with him, still raged with unabated fury, and deterred them from u- 
niting with the Democratic party of the north. 

In^spite of reason and argument, the Dorrites, influenced by those 
destructive councils, which had nearly engulphed them in a treasona- 
ble conflict with the Government of the U. States, threw themselves 
upon their own j^otent sovereignty, irrespective of policy — meas- 
ures or principles ! 



49 

THIS INTERFERENCE AND RETURN Or' UORR DEFEATED THK 
ifPRING ELECTION. 

The February convention, iS43, noLuinated Gen. Thomas F. Car- 
penter, for Governor" 

In order to recover from the disastrous effects of these heretical 
resoiutions, and to supercecie them by a subsequent act of the party 
in an authoritative maimer, I prepared a second Address, which 
was adopted by the Couveirtion, in which was embodied the following 
explicit declaration, overturning and repelling, ihe hcterodoxes in 
Dorr's and Ballou's resolutions, and denying clearly, that the object 
of registering was not to establish, his or any other Constitution, but, 
that we and all were bound and obligated to support and maintain 
the existing one, until it should be ch.ingedor altered, i.-y an authen- 
tic — explicit and sovereign act of the whole people, cleariy and plain- 
ly expressed by them, in their sovereign capacity. 

Averring also, tliat any change by an :ict of Legislati<*R, would h& 
an USURPATION of power, unless commanded and directed by the sov- 
ereign people, viz. 

Tiil:; DECLARATSON. 

"Although a diversity of political opinions may exist between these dif- 
ferent and co-ordinate branches of the government, under its neiv organi- 
zation, yd each and evei-i/ officer, is to be bound and restrained h)/ the sanctity 
and solemn obligation of an oath, to support the Constitution, before he can en- 
ter upon the discharge of ihe duties for which he teas elected, 'i his obligation 
will exist nniil it sii.-.ll liave been changed by an authentic, explicit and 
sovereign nctof tl'.o whole people. A moment's reflection will relieve us 
from the iilibend and unjust cliarges, of our opponents, that this constitu- 
tion is to be cliansed, alone by legislative enactments. Such a change 
would be ail tisurjiai ion— unless it was expressly commanded and specially 
directed by an expiieit act of the w^lioie people, clearly and plainly ex- 
pressed by t'jein in their sovereign capacity. By registering our names, and 
q\nlifijin<r ourselves clectars under the Co7istiiutio7i, ice magnaniinously surren- 
dered all resistance lb it.f authority, other than ihe legal and indefeasible ex- 
erc'se of the right of suffrage, in the choice of such officers, as would faith- 
fu'lif represent us in the new Legislature, and carry into effect our political 
principles. The accomplishment of these great objects induced us to adopt 
this course, as the most practical and efficient means of securing our own r-ighis,. 
and of restoring harmony and peace in our own community." 

This declaration was violently opposed and assailed in Convention 
by Harris «&. Co. and referred to fi committee. Nor was it an easy 
matterto convince them, that all and each officer must first become 
obliiiated to support the Constitution, before they could act officially. 

After a few alterations in other parts of the address to which I con- 
sented, it was agreed to in its present form. 

tSiich was thejeah'tisy of ray doctrine in the address, that even in 
the Convention, I was openly accused of designs of supplanting the 
soverci^nfi/, by n Lnpt. Luce, i\ member from Bristol, who had just 
emerged fnmi the hottest ranks of Hartford Convention Federalism^ 
and who, among other disinterested patriots of the new Democracy, 
which the sinks of Dorrism had germed into life, became the Dem- 
ocratic applicant for Collector of Bristol, to President Po!k, and 
wdiich he only lost by relying upon the integrity of his new friend. 
Senator Olney B;dlou ! ! ! 

Notwithstanding this explicit declaration by the party, our oppo- 

7 



50 

lierits, like all other politicians, assailing the weakest ])oints of the 
fortress, ingeniously charged ns" with insincerity," and seized these, 
and tlie November resolutions, as proof of ilie charge. It was un- 
answerable : and we vt'ere compelled to abide their ruinous conse- 
quences, and submit to the odium of Dorrism. 

What is still worse, and still more aggravating, (for we can pa- 
tientlV bear the taunts of our political foesj Dorr, to whose censura- 
ble interference a!l is attributable, closes into the rear, and claiming 
merit for his own indiscretion, and with a self-assurance, which even 
stupidity cannot excuse, boldly re-affirms what the February Con- 
vention had explicitly cicnkd and pointedly reproved ! ! ! 

He says, viz: " Object m vieir. The expected success was une- 
quivocally and decisively pledged to t'le resuscitation of the people's 
Constitution by the Democratic Convention." 

This bold re-affirmation of a fict, which had been denied and dis- 
proved by a subsequent Convention, certainly does no credit to the 
integrity or honesty of my friend Dorr ! If otiier evidence of the pa- 
ternity of the i4lh resolution above, were wanting, this reference to 
his own progeny affords it. 

It is not manly, aUer the commission of an indiscreet act, that one's 
own friends have condemned, to still persist in its entire rectitude ! 
yet he adopts this course, and complacently claims merit for it. Is 
it pretended lie was not advised of this expression of rebuke of Irs 
resftlnlion of December QOth ? I have seen no such pretence. 

Why, then skip over the hist authoritative act of his party, for justi- 
fication, when the act of doing it imputes to him a design, the exact 
opposite of honorable demeanor ? 

This resolution, his arrival into the city and sojourn in its vicinity, 
on ihi- borders of an adjacent. State, whose CHIEF MAGIS- 
TRATBi'S politeness and attention he had slighted and avoided, 
fur al)odes and associates more congenial with the do vnhill course, 
he had pm-sued, about tv. o or three weeks before the April election 
in 1843, defeated Gen. Carpenter entirely. 

Om- opponents seized the weapons Dorrism had given them, and 
by a skilful use of tliem, by Senator Simmons and other orators 
through the State, immolated the party vvilh all ease. 

Agitatioi), outraged iigitation, the frightful liorrors of another out- 
break, " like goblins damned" burst upon the affrighted visions of 
every matron and damsel fair in the south, and £carce a Saxon free- 
man had the nerves of a " Hamlet" to epeak to them ! much less to 
vote for the still more frightful spectre of abhorred Dorrism ! ! ! 

No man played his hand more adroitly in magnifying the crimes 
of Dorr, and chastising his adherents for their follies a.id wickedness, 
thai; the Hon. J. F. Sim-iions, who has lately discovered some hid- 
den charms in the siifcring martyr, with \»hich he has become ex- 
cessively enamoured. 

The mud gpptlerna'Tly and affable General was charged with all 
sorts of crimes. 

A sample of a few from a handbill sheet, which swept the State 
like Autumn leaves, headed in glaring c:4.;ia: /230l*4, IXtttlCnc'D* 
must suffice. 

They charged him of inviting Dorr's return. Ballou's resolution 
pf November 3Uth, and Dorr's of December 20tb, were charged up- 



'm him. They told the people if he were electeJ, Dorr was to be 
tJovernor, the'CnnstitiUi*-.. was ic ho. Piibverlec!, Jiud the People's 
substituted in its place, &c. viz: • Carpeut. r is but Dorr in dis- 
guise." 

" Trust him not— he and Dorr arj in friendly communication 
with each other." 

" Dorr's language is, we are sure of the State." 

"Carpenfer plcd.vl '''mself to support the People's Constitu- 
tion." 

" It was Carpenter's November resolution that lit up tliis new hope 
in the breast of Dorr." 

" What does Carpenter mean, by an explicit and auUimtic act ot 
the people." 

" Tlio Constitution under which the Dorritcs have registered, and 
propose to elect Carpenter, though he and they may swear to sup- 
port it, has no bindiug force on their acts." 

" This first and las\ is the doings of Thomas F. Carpenter." 

" Behold and discard him." 

" If you take him, you take Dorr and sedition with him." 

General Carpenter" had nothnig to oo with these resolutions, nor 
with Dorr's return. 

We were ail astonislied ! The •'species" did this mischief, and 
for sinister designs. They saw, if Carpenter was elected, other coun- 
cils would predominate ! ! Dorr was nivited with the same treach- 
erous designs, that were practised upon him at the Arsenal, and at his 
military camp, under a disguised hospitality ! ! ! 

This hand-bill, and the use made of it, threw us all aeack ! — 
Dorr was here ! ! 

Gen. Carpenter— Gov. Thurston— Col. ALwcH, met at my house, 
March 2Gth, the same evening Dorr took lodging, at Abel's, on the 
Massachusetts side. 

We all instantly agreed to announce the withdrawal of our nanies 
from the State Ticket the following morning. 

Cut, finding it would not mend the matter, as the election was to 
take place in tour or five days, we concluded to remain — be defeated 
by the injudicious proceedings of his pretended friends. Dorr's su- 
perintendance over the electiim, and to publish a sort of disclaimer 
of the whole concern. As Gen. C. was implicated, we three vindi- 
cated him. 

The preparation of that mstrument devolved upon me, and the 
half way denial and necessitous special pleading of " avoiding and 
admitting," we incurred the displeasure of some cf the " species," 
as the following extracts will show. 

" March 27, 1843. Fellow-Citizens : A handbill headed " Dorr 
returned," containing the most foul, slanderous and libellous charges 
against the priv.ite and moral character of Thomas F. Carpenter, 
candidate, &lc., has just been laid before us. . . . And altiiough the 
barbed arrows of their secret assassins of private character, are ain - 
ed ostensibly at Gen. C, whose moral worth and hitherto spctlets 
life, sutficiently rebuke his cowardly and coven calumniators— yet, 
whatever may be tiie conse-iuences to him in a political point of view, 
we cannot be insensible to their intended effect upon us. 

Having accepted of our respective nominations, mude by the Ds- 



&^ 

mocratic partv, with a distinct disavowal by its Convention, "of ALi 
ACTUAr, OR co.NsrRi'CTivF. vioLEXCK," and of " sli apposition to t/ic 
Government, anil Constitution, other than the Ballot Box"' &c. — ■■ 
it is with painful feelings, &-.c. 

Nor can we suppress onr astonishment and surprise at the nn-- 
blushing and false accusation against our candidate for Governor 
"of inviting Dorr's return at this -pekilot-s crisis," &c. 

In justice to Gen. C, and to ourselves, we deem it our duty to 
declare, tliat we had no knowledge of Mr. Dorr's intention of visit- 
ing the State — that we did not know of it, until he had left— that 
we neither invited his return — nor have we had any cornmunicnticn 
with or from him — either before or since his residence at Piiv.tucket. 

Of the inducements and purpo.>>es which brought Mr. Dorr ktre, 
w'e are wholly ignorant. 

"Over his movements wc have no control. He alone must be the 
judge of his own actions." ... "It is with feelings of the deepest 
reo-ret, therefore, th.at anv circumstances should iiave occurred, which 
render it necessary to detend ourselves, against imputations tending 
to affect the repose of the State." 

This document was signed by Thurston, Atwell, ai d my.^elf 

It is not, to be sure, as complimentary to Dorr, as it might be, but 
it was as complimentary as his impertmeiit interference Vvitli tlie 
D-^mocracv of the State, and his own arrogance in visiting it, for the 
purpose of superintending an election, the defeat of which, was ren- 
dered sure by his destructive councils and the follies of his own acts, 
would admit. 

Had he adopted the above back-handed hint, and attempted to ex- 
ert no control over the Convention, he had no agency in originating, 
as we did over his acts. Democracy in Rhode-Inland would not 
have now become the !:port and pastime of designing Demagogues, 
and speculative politicians ! 

We were censured by Harris & Co., and charged with using dis- 
respectful language towards him, because, we called him Mr. — in- 
stead of Gov. Dorr. Yet, all four of us had voted fur him for G(iv- 
ernor, but we all thought then; and I think so still, hf had forfeited 
all claim to tiiat distinction, by his unjustifiable conduct. 

Whether Gov. Thurston and Gen. Carpenter have since changed 
their opinion, they are competent to decide for themselves. 

Whatever the opinion of others may be in regard to his measures, 
I yield to no man, in my s^ympathies for him and regret, at the mel- 
ancholly condition, to which his rashness has rediictd him, against 
better and more salutary admonition ! 

I have known him from a boy — he was a next door neighbor — he' 
was a youth of refined and chaste sentiment, — he is classically read 
— his anguish and suftcring, though they' may be externally con- 
cealed, are yet heightened by an inward monitor, chastened by ac- 
quired example. I can conceive, but not describe it. Jt is his fr-^ 
RORs — not the man, I reprove. 

We entered the election under these embarrassments. Our old 
Democratic friends, w'ho ten days before, were favorablv inclined to 
the election, forsook town meetings, or if there, they would not vote, 
or if they did, voted against Carpenter. The pecp'e were actually 
persuaded that, if he were elected, Dorr was to be proclaimed Gov- 



. 53 

tjYioT — the existing Constitution subverted, and hi^? Constitution re- 
instated by an act of Legislation, althougli the Convention had dt- 
clared such an act would be an usurpation ! ! ! 

These facts are undeniable. They prove too clearly that no party 
ran succeed in this State, so long as Dorrism h permitted to direct 
and control afiiairs. 

The preceding developement shows the source, vvhence all difiv- 
culties arose, and which now is again exerting itself to perpetuate 
ilhem, without the least hope of reform. 

I pass over intermediate events, and hasten to other and extraor- 
dinary developements of rabid Durrisni. 

AUGUST ELECTION OF REPRESENTATIVES TO CONGRESS, \S4:\ 
—DORRlTE CANDIDATES, WIL.MARTIl N. ALDRICII, JOlJN II. 
WEEDEN— PRESIDENT TYLER FORGIVEN. 

As Chairman of the State Committee, I had called Congres.=;ional 
District Conventions to nominate candidates for Congress. 

Again Dorrism become energetic in .selecting Delegates. The old 
Democratic party had become disgusted with the proscriptive pro- 
ceedings of tlie Dorr fiction, and took but little interest in the mat- 
ter. The result was, the Convention of the Eastern District, was 
of a Dorrite character. 

In the mean time, President Tyler, having defeate'd- Mr. Botts, 
and the friends of Mr. Clay, from " heading him," had announced 
he should henceforward administer the Government on the Jefferson- 
ian principle. 

This announcement awakened new hopes in the Dorrites, ar:d 
opened to their views a distant prospect, of obtaining office under 
him : — and, hnaking loose from the prejudice?,, which Dorr, by his 
traductions and misrepresentations of the President, had fastened 
upon them, Harris & Co., forgot their hostility towards him, — ps-- 
suined the demeanor of Courtiers — and smiled^ w-ith ineflable grace 
upon "THE ARMED ARBITRATOR"— whcsc veto of Rhode 
Island (as Dorr says) had cast all his other vetoes into the shade." 

Before the meeting of the Convention, it became apparent that, no 
Deaiocrat, who had not " bov/ed the knee,", and worshipped at the 
Altar of Dorrism, could receive tlie nomination of the Convention. 

Great efforts were made to find candidates who could command 
i\^Q support of the Dorrites. Their support and their organization, 
were matters of paramount interest to sacces?. 

Mr. Atwell was nominated in the Western District, but declined. 
A substitute was necessary. Again Dorr, still in exile, was consult- 
ed. Wilmarth N. Aldrich, Esq., of Scituate, and Mr. Weeden, frcm 
the infected town of North Providence, were presented as suitable 
candidates. 

He paused to enquire how they stood inclined to Tyler. 

All' objections were removed by a temporary policy at the excense 
of frankness. He was told they were orthodox on all questions, and 
his fast staunch friends. This removed all scruples, and these n-en-- 
tiemen's nomination was ratiHed ! ! 

Notwithstanding this singular deception, the very men who prac- 
tised it upon their IDOL, by way of compromise with their ow^n 
consciences, had selected Weeden — as a Tyler man — under certairt 
assurances from the then Collector at Providence — his distant eon-- 



61 

hexion — of aid and sup])ort from the posse of officers of tl)e Cus-' 
toms, throughout the State ! 

My worthy friends — W. N. Akkich was put into one scale, as the 
representative of abstract Dorrism — while John H. Weeden was 
placed in the other, as the representative of Dorrite Tyleritin ! 

Fr; ir. this junction of opposites, when the removal of Whigs, and 
appoijitrneat of Democrats, by Mr. Tyler, followed in rapid succes- 
sion — Harris, Anthony, and others, of the most violent Dorrites, be- 
came aoi-Iicants for oiiice, with the recommendations of Mr. Wee- 
den, if uut of Mr. Aldrich, to President Tyler, whom, they had de- 
nounced ts an " Inv.\der," and whose lawful interposition, to put 
down ,he disturbances they liad created, they had taken arms to re- 
sist, htcausc Dorr had taught them, it was '' unauihorized and an 
assault upon the rights of the State" ! ! 

When will my fri(mds learn caution from experience 1 

STATE CONVENTION FEBRUARY 1844-PACKED AND ILLEGAL 
— PHE-IDENT ATUELL'.S CARD— DELEGATES TO BALTI- 
MORE— DOlfRTSM USURPS DEMOCRACY— NEW PAPER OPPOS- 
ED TO THE HERALD. 

As the time, contemplated in the Cumberland primary meeting, 
for the Democracy of the State, to be represented in the Democrat- 
ic INational Convention^ had arrived, in conformity to the duties of 
C'lairman of the Slate Committee. I had called a Convention, for 
the purpose of selecting Delegates to Baltimore, and for State pur- 
po.ses, to be holden at Providence, in February, during the session 
of li'.c General Assembly. 

i>u;r, in the mean time, had made his advent into the State, and 
was then in Prison, in this city, waiting his trial. 

His partizans had frte access to him, and the intercourse between 
them was unrestricted. 

The Republican Herald, then under the management of the late 
Col. Simons, whose amiable qualities and gentlemanly deportment, 
had endeared him to me, as one of my most valued fiiendt:, and for 
•whose columns I had contributed more or less for twenty years, had 
become suspected by Dorr, without the le.ast foundation, of being' 
warped into an indifference towards Dorrism, by some supposed 
agency of mine. A supposition, which was us ungenerous to me, 
as it was ill-founded, to the Editor ! 

Col. Simons, if in nothing else, was not controlled by any one, 
and was remprkably soxereign over its column's. 

It was publicly aniiounc*"^' by the associates of Dorr, that as an 
act of gratitude to him, and to sustahi him in his critical position,- 
he iniisl be selected as the first delegate to Baltimore. He had se- 
lected himself aiifl was desirous of :;'e distinction, aithougl' he ai'd 
tiiey witYe fully ruvare, he could not officiate in that caprcity, 

iiis sfiiectio 1, \'. IS well known, was opposed by thv. old Demo- 
cratic party, amidig whom were Messrs. Atweii, Cnrpente:', Tlnns- 
toH, Spencer, J. Feniier, of Coventry, Waterman, Pearce, Hazard, 
W^eatlierhfcud, myself, &lc., not f.oin any antipathy towards liim 
personally, but, because we J. • "lit the old Democraiic 'party were 
best entitled, aiid because. Ins appointment would be merely com- 
plimentary, as he himself adii-lted. 

A struggle was had in the different towns in choosing delegates. 
The Dorrites were active in their meetings and exertions, and tinal- 



65 

iy Dorr directed his partisans in Newport to oppose aiuf i»revent the 
election of Mr. Pearce and his friends, as delegates to the Slate 
Convention. Tliey were however elected by a triumphant ma- 
jority ! 

We found we had a majority of deiegates of tlie ohl school Dem- 
ocrats, returned lo the Convent! and were determined to check 
future excesses of Dorrism to which, we luid been constantly subject- 
ed by its interference and dictation. 

On Mondav evcnintr, before the meeting of the Convention wl-.icU 
was to beholden theWednesday followintf, a meeting of Dorr's friends 
in Newport was holden, not called by the State Committee of that 
town, and after Messrs. Pearce, &.c. had been c!ecred according 
to the organization of the part; , and Mr. Eunis and five others were 
elected delegates. 

This meeting was holden on the day after Mr. Ennis returned 
from Providence, and after a persoii.a interview with Dorr, 'i hey 
were insiiucted to vote for him, as first delegate, as appeared by one 
of the resolutions, but which was omitted to be published for p'u- 
dential reasons. 

The Convention assembled, and on account of the inclemency of 
the weather — oui u-legates from four or five of the most distant towns 
could not or di-.'. ■ ot attend. 

ivu that dav, Harris iV. Co. stood as .-entinels over the an: ' of 
deivigales in t!ie city, to sound them on tlie subject. They held a 
private meeting before the Convention assembled, and they tound 
they had a majority present. Col. Atwell however was agreed on, 
as President. The Dorrhes took advantage of the absence of the 
Democratic members, and to make assurance " doubly sure," they 
admitted the second set of delegates from Newport, against ;-U right 
and all democratic usage. 

Thus, by a packed and illegal Convention were Dorr and int i:-,o- 
ciates smuggled into the National Convention, for no other purpose, 
than to keep him before the people, and his partisans united, and the 
Rhode Ishmd question alive \ Mr. Pearce was defeated for secoiid 
delegate by three majority oaly, though they claimed five. 

The Democratic members became disgusted and took no r-Ttlur 
part in the subsequent proceedings, and some left the Convention. 
The Dorrites were left masters and they managed affairs in their 
own way. 'Ihe old Democratic State Central Couimiitee was sup- 
erceded by a majority of Dorrites; I having left mj resignr-tio i with 
the President. 

Among others, they passed a resolution directed by Dorr, instruct- 
ing t^^\: delegates to lay the Rhode Island question before the Na- 
tional Convention at Baltimore, and insist upon an emphatic declar- 
ation upon it by the assembled Democracy of the Nation. 

VVe thought this an injudicious measure, and none laore ^o than 
the senior and juiiior Editors of the Herald, both of vvhorii wished 
v;ie very cheerfidly, to write a temperate article dlsapprovir - of i's, 
policy, i did so, viz. 

EXTRACT. 

"We regiet also that any attempt shoukl have been mtde ; :; prei=- 
ent time^ to lay before the National Co^iven ion, tiie exciting 'iibjf ct which 
has so long ajBfitated the ]io()pl<; of this State. Notwithstanding the great 



iiiUKd-tance of tliu priiiciples iri\olved in this subject, we fear t))eir discus- 
j^ioii in the National (Convention, may embarrass the deliberations of that 
body. We iiave defined it proper, therefore, to make these remarks, lest 
our Democratic bretliren in other States, who may not be fnlly advised of 
the precise situation of our political affairs, might be led, unconsciously, 
to criticise the proceedings of the Convention, and censure the Democracy 
of the State, for its unguarded and zealous impetuosity." 

The President, Col. Atwell, iii a public card declared the whole 
proceedings " il!e<>-al and void " and retused to sign the proceedings 
and authenticate tliq appoiotaient of delegates. 

This h;is the second instance that a Danmcratic President, had 
refused to sanction the excesses, into which intermeddling and arro- 
gating Djrrisui had involved and stigmatised the true Democracy ! 
The publication of that article, was looked upon as High Treason 
to Dorrism, and cousuaimated his s(isj)icio!is of jny agency with its 
columns. 

Dorr became excited, that the Democracy should dare to question 
J)is supremacy, and gat up an opposite paper to the Herald, under 
the editorial management of Albion N. OIney, Harris «fc Co., called 
the" Indej)endent." The title was dlsti/ictivc ; an apt correlative ! 
of his assumed sonere't^niy I 

He contributed to its polluted coinmns — commanded ids adiic- 
reiits to drop llic old Democratic Organ, the Herald — and ])afronise 
the " Independent." Other facts of curious import, relative to this 
inovemeMt against Democracy, of a confidential character, I am not 
at liberty to disclose! 

After a few broadsides at the Herald and my humble self, as 1 was 
told, for I never taw but two copies of it, the " Independent," like all 
other enterprises lie ever undertook, failed by " desertion of his 
friends, and want of officers" ! 

Oa this occasion, long before tlie Convention, (the clique of 

&Co.)were again denounced from the Prison walls, in the bit- 
terest manner. 

His return, arrest and imprisonment were events of his own seek- 
ing. They were not necessarily incurred by him, but rather as 
'means of reviving tiie expiring sympcitliies both at home and 
abroad. 

His worshippers renewed their devotion, and perceiving that his 
election to Baltimore and new stimulus to sympathies, would afford 
them a capit;d, by which they could accomplish their ulterior seliish 
pur|)oses, they enthusiiistically eml)raced and supported them, wiili 
as little personal regard for him, as some of his most embittered en- 
emies entertained. 

Thus, was the Democratic party, who originated this Conven- 
tion at Cumberland, for the very purpose of being represented in the 
Democratic National Convention, without the knowledge, consent 
or aoency of Dorr, superceded and supplanted by his impertinent in- 
terference and dogmatic assurance, with the aid of the new race of 
electors, the clemency of the Covernment had admitted alter they 
}jad lost their franc'i:L-e under their own Coi!stitution,l)y the folly and 
uninstifiabie conduct of tiiemselve^. What is more singular, many 
of the delegates and substitutes were old Federalists. 

Let all candid men review t'le acts and proceedings of Dorr and 
his followers, m relation to the democratic party — 1 do not mean 



57 

Law and Order democrats, under the circumstance.?, with which 
i!iey were surrounded, and say, if a parallei !>f more arrogant dicta- 
tion and control can be found in the history of man ! ! ! 

It is hardly credible of belief, that a man, whose acts have jeop- 
ardized the repose of the society, in which he was nurtured and edu- 
cfited-^r«/i the tenderest ties of pnternal and fraternal affection — in- 
curred the ignominious penalties of- violated laws and Constitution 
of his country — under a mistaken view of the very rights he was at- 
tempting to achieve; should have assumed such high responsibilities, 
and still continue to exercise supreme control. 

After all — the National Convention, as we predicated in theHcr- 
ald. very properly took no action upon the Rhode Island question, 
nnd not a man of the delegation or of their numerous associates was 
capacitated to enforce or explain it, either with credit to himself or 
iionor to the State he represented. 

And for this the Convention was reproved by Dorr as will be 
hereinafter seen in a manner peculiar to himself. 

DORR'S MEMORIAL— TWENTY-SIX MEMBERS OF THE STATE 
GOVERNMENT SEDUCED BY HIM FROM THEIR ALLEGIANCE 
INTO AN ACT, WHICH UN£)ER ANY OTHER GOVERNMENT, 
WOULD CONVICT THEM OF HIGH TREASON— THE HON. 
EDMUND BURKE, &c. 

In immediate connection w'lta the preceding developement of err- 
ing Dorrism, Dorr shifts the scenes of his exploits over conventions 
— insidiously worms himself into the legitimate legislative depart- 
ment of the State, and seduces twenty-six members from their affi- 
anced allegiance to it. 

The General Assembly was then in session at Providence. He 
was in Prison, awaiting a trial for his past offences against the old 
Charter Government, by the aathorities ef the State under the new 
Constitution, which the people, in "their State sovereign capacity," 
had adopted, and put into execution by their common consent and 
peaceable acquiescence ! 

Aware of the danger, that impended over him, which he had vol- 
untarily invoked, against the earnest entreaties and kind affections, 
of those generous friends, who had shielded him from harm in the 
hour of peril, — and brooding over the past, in wasting melancholly 
and gloomy solitude, devising ways to avert the heavy penalties 
of violated" law, he waived his stubborn opposition and consented 
to appeal to that tribunal, provided by the National Constitution, 
as a last resort, for escape ! _ , 

But, unfortunately, his delusive hopes for safety, which ani- 
mated his, breast, and directed his pen in drawing that appeal, 
betrayed him into a new offence, against tlie new government, 
whose authority he sought to annul. 

When it was too late, he recognizes Congress, which he had 
disdainfully rejected, as the Constitutional Lhnpire to settle con- 
troversies between opposinu governments, in a State, and gravely 
asked them to interpose their sovereign power, where there was 
no controversy, and to subvert a government established and ac- 
quiesced in by all! 
8 



58 

Amono; all the extravagancies of Dorrism, this memorial is by 
no means the least. It was a work of soliciludr, and its execu- 
tion required an accomplice, and secrecy. 

The accomplice was available ! — The Hon. Olney Ballon, whose- 
old-fashioned democracy has become merged and melted into all 
the absurdities and abstractions of Dorrism — an affianced member 
of the new government — to whose laws he was then, and now is 
appealing for redress of personal outrages and tattered reputation 
of character — sustained and incurred in the prosecution of crimi- 
nal proceedings in common with Dorr himself, and swayed by the 
fictitious potency o^ an eph^ieral distinction ; seduced and induced 
his legislative colleagues, to sign the memorial to Congress, on which 
a volume entitled, '' Burke's Report," has been given to the world, 
calculated only to betray the youth and the inconsiderate, into errors 
and heresies of the most dangerous tendencies to republican freedom. 

it was a work of secrecy indeed — for, none out of its treasonable 
plot, knew of its existence, until its introduction into Congress was 
announced in its Journals. 

Subsequent facts in relation to the manner it was signed, besides 
that of Hon. Anson Potter, viz. " Believing the statement to be. 
substantially correct,'''' show more fully it was signed without a 
knowledge of its contents, and under circumstances not so favor- 
able to the integrity of the acsomplice in this mischief, as they 
might have been ! ! ! (See debate on this subject, extra session of 
Assembly ; especially Senator Eaton's remarks.) 

" Fellow-Citizens — I invite you to approach this memorial with 
me, and to give it that serious consideration it deserves, for I feel my 
own inability to express the views it suggests. 

Having freely conversed with the greater portion of the Memorial- 
ists, on the subject and the manner of signatures, I have found not 
the single individual among them, who approves df it. On the con- 
trary, some, with a severity of reproach upon Senator Ballou, which 
should humble the dictatorial position, he has of late assumed, hon- 
estly confessed they affixed tlicir signatures under a disguised repre- 
sentation of its objects and import. 

I think it a warrantable assertion, therefore, that the responsibil- 
ity of this memorial rests alone upon DORR and BALLOU. 

Among the memorialists are many of my old political and valued 
friends, who,- I am persuaded, v/hen they come to review the con- 
sequences attendant upon the act, they were innocently drawn into, 
by artifices and pretexts they so indignantly censure and condemn, 
will yet make an eftbrt, and ask leave of Congress to withdraw that 
docitment ! 

Their patriotism — their devotion to the Constitution of their coun- 
try — their uniform observance, and respect to the laws and institu- 
tions of the State — the obligations they owe to the society in which 
tliey live — their own examples to the generations they must soon 
leave behind — the rescue of their memories from the odium it av;!! 
perpetuate — the duties they owe to their families — the repose of the 
conuaunity — the permanency of our system of civil government to 
themselves — all admopish them, as Christians, parents and legisla- 
tors, to pacific;. 1 3 the IJeaven they offended, for oaths unintention- 
ally forsworn, and urge them to hasten and withdraw from the ar- 



59 

chives of Congress, this hlur, ihis cancer, this stain, upon democratic 
America ! ! ! 

Tlie people of the S'ate, no matter what compelled them, in their 
sovereign cnpacity, liiid signified their co-opt rition in llic legislative 
request to meet in Convention — and to form a new Constitntion — 
elected their delegates for that purpose; and tiius embodied their 
sovereignty in the Convention. 

By their delegates, they formed a Constitution, and without assum- 
ing authority to enforce it, they rightfully submitted it, to the people, 
as Sovereigns, to adopt or reject it, as they pleased. 

Its adoption by all, or a portion only, concluded all, as all were left 
free to adopt or reject. If a majority chose to waive their opposi- 
tion — the very act of icaiving it, fixed and determined their consent 
to its adoption by the minority! The majority for adopting the ex- 
isting Constitution of those who did vote, yea or nay, was 7973. 
It was, therefore, rightfully adoptsd and estopped all objections. 
Dorr and his mischievous discontents, if the majority as they now 
pretend, instead of appearinjT at the polls and voting against it, waiv- 
ed their opposition and yielded their consent to its adoption ! Yet, 
under his and their vagaries of omnipotence and supremacy, and for 
purposes of further agitation and turmoil, they threw themselves 
upon their visionary sovereignty, and rested upon an interposed 
" protest." Here was another abstraction of Dorrism ! 

The Constitution so adopted was permitted to be put into execu- 
tion by the Charter Government, by the people. 

It became the paramount and only supreme law of the State, to 
which each one r.nd all owed fealty, and which each and all were 
obligated to respect and obey ! 

A Government was organized under it, consisting of a Governor, 
House of Representatives and Senate; elected by the people. Jn 
April, 1843, in pursuance of the provisions of the Constitution, the 
people assembled in their respective towns, and elected a Governor, 
&.C., a House of Representations, and a Senate, for the year follow- 
ing. Each Senator and Represeiiif.iive by appearing at the polls — 
assenting to be voted for — and accepting the office, again acknowl- 
edged the validity of the existing Constitution — and admitted, there 
was no other Constitution either in existence, or, which, ought of 
right, to he in existence ! ! ! 

These acts renewed the mutual pledges between the people and 
their chosen servants, to sustain — defend and maintain the Constitu- 
tion, and to preserve it inviolable, from any hasty or inconsiderate 
acts of tiieir servants, as well as from all foreign encroachment 
whatever. 

Of the General Assembly so elected for that year, were 'the fol- 
lowing names, viz ; 

" SENATORS." 
Samuel Steere, Levi C. Eaton, 

OLNEY BALLOU, George C. Carr, 

Otis Wood, Anson Potter, 

[Believing the statement to be substantially correct 
Cyrus Brown, Isaac Wilkinson. 

REPRESENTATIVES. 
Eddy Keech, William Smith, 

Gladding O. Thompson, Thomas Buffum, 



60 

Adam Park, Ariel Bailuu, 

James Angell, Feiiuer Brown, 

Cyrus Farnuiii, William Latham, 

William IS^eere, Josepti E. Sissou, 

David Wilbur, Jonathan Cole, 

James Harkness, Niles Westcott, 

Pardon Angell, l.lchard Ivloury, 
Providence, February 1, 1S44. 

These gentlemen, on the first Tuesday of May following with 
their interchanged pledges with their constituents, sail admonishing 
them of their high duties and immense obligations, to be true and 
faithful to the trust reposed in them, and to suffer, nor permit any 
encroachment upon the Constitution, appeared in their legislative 
seats, and with uplifted hands, invoked the wrath of God, or the 
pains and penalties of perjury upon themselves, if, they should en- 
croach or permit any encroachment upon that instrument^ or omit 
any duty, or transgress any obligation 1 ! ! 

This was the sacred and legalized Government, whose penalties 
to avert and avoid, and whose laws. Senator Ballon had appealed to, 
for remuneration of a character hitherto. spotless, Dorr insidiously 
invaded, by his appeal to Congress. 

No other Constitution w'as in existence — no other of right cuglit 
to exist — no controversy cf opposing governments — no State party 
— no subject requiring the execution of the National Guarantee ! — 
no State authority to sipply to Congress! — or appoint a Committee to 
apply by memorial in their name and behalf ! — no request of the peo- 
ple — not even of the party in whose behalf the appeal purports to be 
made — no subject over which Congress has any jurisdiction, existed! 
(See ante page 15, Reason 14.) 

Yet this malcontent, who indignantly spurned an appeal to Con- 
gress, vv'hen possessed of all the requisites, that would have impelled 
its jurisdiction, and settled, for him, the controversy of his Constitu- 
tion with the Charter ; arouses from the stupor of that delirium, 
which had multiplied his offences against that authority, indites his 
appeal, and either foolishly or wickedly entered the halls of anoth- 
er Government, and by the aid of aporiiceps criniinis, coaxed and 
SEDUCED, honest, well meaning, and gonerous hearted men, from the 
path of plighted duty and affianced allegiance, into an overt t>ct, 
which the common law punishes,*as high Treason ! 

An appeal, not in the name, or behalf of the authorities of an 
organized State Government, but, through and by, twenty-six mem- 
bers of another Government, chosen and delegated by the people 
themselves, to legislnie for their good and benefit, — who, disregarding 
their fealty — enforced by the solemnity of their oaths, deliberately 
put their signatures to a document, and sacrilegiously prayed anoth- 
er Tribunal, to abrogate — annul — subvert — destroy and overthrow the 
very Constitution, which bestowed upon them the official capacity, 
with which, they desecrated even the memorial itself ! ! I 

A memorial to Congress dictated by him, who had unlawfully en- 
listed foreign aid to resist its authority — trampled under foot his own 
Constitution and authority of his own Legislature — and soiled by the 
signatures of members procured by the precipitant agency of Senator 



61 

Ballou, gravely asked that body, to perfcirra an act, over vvhicli, it his 
neither jurisdiction nor power to perronii,and like; themselves, u> 
prove reckless and faithless to the Constilution and Government cf 
llie Union. 

Here is its prayer, viz : , 

" The undersigned further request the Congress of the United 
States TO EXECUTE to this State, the Guarantee in the National Con- 
stitution, of a Republican Constitution hi favor of that, which was 
rio-ht fully and duly adopted in this State, in December, lS4i , and 
cstHblished, and carried into effect, by the organization of a Govern- 
ment under it in May, 1842." ^ 

The stupidity which prevailed throughout this proceeding, is only 
eqimilcd by the sinister design Dorr intended to accoaiplish. 

Here Congress is implored by a petition, which disclosed upon its 
face, no existing Constitution or Govern nient, on which tiie execution 
of the Guarantee could attach, without it resuscitated, and re-adopted 
by its own act, the Constitution of 1841 — a subject over which it had 
no jurisdiction ; and no power to do — no Constitution — no organiza- 
tion of the Government — no proceeding affecting its jbrmation or 
adoption, to enable Congress, (even if it had the power,) to adjudi- 
cate upon its character, its form and powers, and to ascertain, wheth- 
er the Gaarr^iJtee became obligatory or not. 

A simple narrative of facts, though their accuracy vv;,s questioned 
by Mr. Potter, in the post modern idiom of isolated Dorrism, was 
presented, of which Congress knew nothing, except the startling fact 
— which the appended capacities of the memorialists disclosed. 

A fact, which proclaimed them Traitors to the Government of 
which their official -:ignatures showed they were members ! ! 

The execution of the Guarantee, therefore, in favor of the Consti- 
tution of 1841, would necessarily have overthrown the existing Con- 
stitution of the State, though it possesses every requisite required 
by the Guarantee. 

Another admirable absurdity and blunder of Dorrism ! 
But its design is of a deeper hue. It implied something beyond 
treachery to his generous memorialists. Had Congress granted the 
prayer of this most extraordiu;;i y petition. Dorr would have been 
snugly guaranteed, into the Executive Chair of the State, and tiuis 
avoided the impending penalties over him — while Senator Ballou, 
and his colleagues, would have been peaceably guaranteed^ out of 
both General Assembly and Court. 

The Guarantee in this case, would have usurped by Congress, the 
reserved ricrht of a State to form and adopt a Constitution, and re- 
adopted that of 1841. 

On the contrary, if Dorr were sincere in this application, it not 
only shows how loosely he reflects, but reproves his conduct with the 
keenest severity. After his Constitution had been overthrown by 
rejecting t^ongress, and by his own unwarranted measures, which 
had caused the intervention of the National Government to suppress, 
' he became so far rational, as to ask that body to, reanimate and im- 
part new life to a Constitution, which, if it ever had existence, had 
slumbered a lifeless corpse, behind the Arsenal, or on Acot Hill, for 
more than two years, and whose mouldering remains, i;s own god- 
fathers, the people, had not only utterly abandoned, but, had substi- 



62 

tilled another, in ul<ich all were quietly acqiiiesceing, except tlie 
twenty-six member^; who had traitorously conspired with him, against 
it. 

Why did he not adopt tliis course, as hts Democratic friends ad- 
vised, while his Constitution and Government had existence, and the 
necessary requisite to entitle him to the Guarantee? Instead of that, 
he assumed the very power of Congress, he now seeks to obtain, 
and undertook to guarantee it, by force. 

The Memorial, at this late period, reverses all his high claims of 
ritrht, for his medsnres— admits and erposcs the egregious error§, he 
has long indulged ! 

Anfono- other things, it is no less surprising, that a member of 
Congress, who regarded his own duties and obligations to the State 
lie represented, and the Government of which he was a merftber, 
could have been found and prevailed upon, to present to that enlight- 
ened body, for its serious c<^nsideration, a petition of such dangerous 
precedent — from such a party — with svch a prai/cr ; and attempt to 
involve Congress, into the heresies and dangers it boldly asserts. 

A school-boy of ordinary discernment, who had advanced in com- 
mon reading to the Iburth article of the Constitution, on the inspec- 
tion of the memorial, must have seen, that it neither contained a sub- 
ject — a single requisition, nor capable applicants, over which Con- 
gress had jurisdiction, or any power whatever, even if the Constitu- 
tion sought to be guaranteed, had been in being. 

Yet Congress is executing the guarantee, every day, to new States, 
when they present the proper requisites. 

The prayer of this memorial, like all other erratic meteors from 
Dorrism, shot spontaneously from \X?, appropriate spherical orbit, and 
asked Congress to resuscitate from the tomb, — to adopt and to estab- 
lish, a defunct, obsolete and superceded instrument, Tipon such an 
application, and thereby subvert and overthrow another Constitu- 
tion " republican in form," adopted and acquiesced in, by all the 
people, in their proper sovereign cnpacitj. 

Incredible as all this vvoidd seem, it remained for the Hon. Ed- 
mund Burke, from the Granite State, where better things are better 
done, to per|)etrate such a blunder. It is apparent Mr. Buike suf- 
fered his partialities for his Rhode Island friends, to betray his first 
impressions, and involve him into the dilemma from which, after re- 
flection and consultation, he so feebly attempts to retreat, in pages 
63 and 83 of his report; although he has stated there,scarce]y a sin- 
gle correct position in relation to the proper execution of the guar- 
antee. 

No wonder then, he could advance no further, than to obtain an 
order " to print his book." The moment, members of Congress ex- 
amined the objects and import of Dorr's memorial, they saw Cit 
once, the danger to all State Governments, as well as that of the Un- 
ion, a further prosecution of its untenable heresies must produce. 

Thei'efore to relieve IMr. Burke, from the wild abstractions of 
Dorrism, they generously " helped him to print," but warned him 
against the consequences of further persistance. 

They found they had been deceived — instead of a lamb, they had 
incautiously fondled a serpent, whose deadly fangs w ouid sting the 
very vitals of the whole system of Govetnnicnts, State and National, 
if they should irritate him into action. 



63 

Burke's report, therefore quietly lies upon file, u prisiii.unre abor- 
tion of" avoided -auCl deserted'" Dorrisai. 

DORR REBUKES CONGRESS AND THE ASSEMBLED DEMOCRA- 
CY OF THE NATION. 

Irritated and provoked, at defeat after defeat, in all his efforts to 
fasten upon judicious and legislative bodies, his peculiar tenets up- 
on soverei-ru rijihts, and constitutional enactments, he assumes to 
chastise them ivith as little hesitancy, as he exercises over his span- 
nelled subjects at home. The Democratic National Convention at 
Baltimore, for not entertainin;^ the Rhode Island question, which he 
had commanded them by one of his resolutions, at the February 
Convention to entertain, comes in for a share of his sovereign re- 
pro. )f. 

Tiie con<i;regated wisdom of Consfiess, for baching 0'ut,a^ieY lihnd 
incautiously entertained his. memorial — for reAisirig- to reinstate him 
in the Executive chair — and thus enabling him to escape the penal- 
ties of his offences, is arraigned, tried — convicted of the high offence 
Mfdesertiri"- his treasonable project, to subvert tlie very Government, 
whose clemency and munificence, have pardoned iiis faults, and re- 
stored him to society and freedom ! ! ! 

From the wise and judicious decisions of these Tribunals, by 
which his extravagances and assurances have been checked, and the 
Constitutions of the Nation and the Stales preserved inviolate, he 
appeals to the *' diseased masses" with the complaisance of a Pope 
over his vassal subjects, reproaches and rebukes, alike the wis- 
dom of Congress and the assembled Democracy of his country ! — viz: 

" I am happy to believe, that the Rhode Island Question had an 
appreciable weiolit in the result of th^; last year. AVOIDED 
AND DESERTED in the House of Representatives and in the 
Baltimore Convention, the people discerned this question, welcomed 
it and inscribed it on their tiannrr of victory." 

(See his letter Oct. 24, IS45, to .John C. Rieves,. President of the 
Democratic Association, Washington city.) 

What question? Was it the " unauthorized inter[K)sition " of the 
Executive of the Union 1 Vv'as it the " superior force without, false- 
ly arrogating to itself an offence and dangerous supremacy V Was 
it the " assault upon the rights of the State" which he denounced 
as an '• unlawful invasion 1" Was it the " Invader," the President ? 
Was it the " invocation of foreign aid," to resist and war with the 
^'' superior force ''^ of the Government'? Was it the leading of the 
people on to the "battle field" of treason, to dispute with their blood 
and their proffered " aid," the " supremacy" of the lawful requisit- 
ions of the Government he had offended ? Was this the question 
the people discerned 1 Was this the question diey welcomed .' Was 
this the inscription on their banner of victory ? 

Vain young man ! Let your errors be your schoolmaster ! 

HARRIS & CO. SURPRISED AT THE DEFEAT OF MR.. VAN BUREN. 

At the February Convention, where Dorrism reigned supreme, 
Dorr instructed, in one of his resolutions, himself and the other dele- 
gates to Baltimore, to vote to the last, for Mf. Van Burenasthe can- 
didate for the Presidency. .That eminent Statesman had been im- 



04 

pnrtiined and tenzed in every shapp, by letters from Dorrite com- 
mittees, to draw tVoin !)ira liis approbiition of the measures, which 
Dorr had pursued, to wliich, with his usuni urbanity, he replied, but 
wiOi his usual and great caution. In neitiier of his replies, sucli is 
his guarded language, does he go beyond the legitimate limits of State 
sovereignty. Yet Dorr and his parasites, then and still, under their 
mistaken views of it, derived great consolation from his letters, and 
claimed, that Mr. Van Buren approved Dorrism ! ! ! 

That distinguished statesman, when he shall have learned what 
Dorrism is, as contra-distinguished from true Democracy, I am ap- 
prehensive, will not feel over complimented by such a perversion of 
his language. 

At this time also, Dorr and his party, whether from their antipathy 
to President Tyler, " the armed arbitrator," or from their innate at- 
tachment to New England federalism, whose sJch'ts they still admired, 
were utterly opposed to the reacquisition [of Noble Texas, which 
the great leader of the New England party, J. Q,. Adams, had bar- 
tered away in 1819, for Florida, through the contracted policy of 
limiting an extension of the Republic, Soifth and Wesfivarfi, and of 
preserving the New England preponderance in the Senate of the 
United States. 

This great democratic measure their Democracy had not yet reach- 
ed. Mr. Van Buren's letter ou Texas, renewed their admiration of 
the man, and confirmed their opposition to Annexation. 

They thought and expressed the opinion, that when he should be 
reinstated in the Presidential chair, Dorrism would revive. - 

More than five months previous, I had, with the full approbation 
of the Editor, inserted the name of Mr, Van Buren as a candidate 
in the Herald, and took it out only after t!ie Baltimore Convention, 
with complimentary remarks, as may be seen by its columns. 

I dissented from Mr. Vrm Buren on Texas, though I was anxious 
for liis re-election, to heal the breach in tiie democratic ranks, which 
the avalanche of H.\rriso>;ism had liu'.de. 

For a longtime, as is well known, I stood alone for Texas in this 
community. So much so, that our own ])arty in Convention, in 
.Tune follou'ing, thouglit it inexpedient to adopt a resolution in its 
favor I haJ irepared. 

Mr. Van Buren was not nominated. They were surprised, and 
all their " golden eggs" were spoiled in hatching. Their grasp 
on the " spoils," which was the measure of their ambition, and 
the index to their principles, was relaxed. 

Dorr''s and their hopes were despondent, and even the Nation- 
al Convention was severely catechised, for not paying greater 
deference to his instructions ! 

THE NOMINATION OF MR. POLK POSED THEM. 

The nomination of Mr. Polk changed the scene and jjoscd 
them. He was a new man, utdvnown to most of them. Of his 
opinions of Dorrism, they were notjadvised. Their Democracy per- 
mitted them to support no man, who did not square with Dorrism. 
Their delegates returned, apologized for their inefficiency on the 
vRhode Island question and Mr. Van Buren's nomination, but, took 
no decisive action in favor of Mr. Polk. They waited to see how 



G5 

his nomination was received, and took lime to consult Mr. Dallas 
&c., before they consented to support the regular nominee, accord- 
ing to the leading article in Democratic usage. This was and is 
Dorritc Democracy. 

JUNE STATE CONVENTION TO RATIFY THE NOMINATION— 
BfPRISONMENT— SYMPATHY JIEETING ADVISED. 

In June, a State Convention was holden at Newport during the 
session of the General Assembly there, to take a decided stand for 
Mr. Folk and rat-fy liis nomination. In the meantime svmi)toms 
of rei'olt, developed themselves in the Dorr ranks, and the prospects 
of support for Mr. Polk, became clouded and portenuious. 

The Convention under these circumstances, was under the con- 
trol of the old school, who adhered to the old usage of supportin"- 
the regular nominees. 

Accordingly, being a member, I prepared resolutions, (a work 
devolved on me for the last fifteen or twenty years,) the record of 
which is as follows — viz: " The following resolutions were intro- 
duced by Mr. Randall, of Providence, and unanimously adopted." 

Our object was to give an impetus to the support of Mr. Polk, and 
to overcome the predominating coolness and indifference in the Dorr 
ranks towards him. 

Among the resolutions, after approving the magnanimity of Mr. 
Van Buren in his proffered support of Mr. Polk, was the following-, 
as an appropriate inducement to bring out, in his favor,all who were 
opposed to a National Bank — viz: 

" Resolved, that the great issue, as in 1831, in the emphatic lan- 
guage of J. K. Polk, ' whether, we shall have the Republic without 
a Bank,' or, a ' Bank, without the Republic,' is again presented — 
and forms a controlling element in the approaching election." 

Thus was the ratification consummated, though Dorrism was by 
no means appeased. 

On that day or day before. Dorr was removed from Newport to 
Providence and imprisoned. This event gave his friends new trouble, 
and they became loud in their denunciation of the act. 

They seized upon the occasion and urged and attempted to co- 
erce the Convention to take strong ground against it, and to declare 
it ought not to be, and would not be tolerated. 

Harris, then the standing member of the Sixth Ward, and his as- 
sociates, made some strong threats, if the Convention neo-lected to 
express its sympathies. He avowed that the friends of Dorr abroad, 
would denounce the Convention, that it would injure the Presiden- 
tial election, and plainly intimated this would be tlie last Convention 
of the party. He moved an adjournment, obviously to gain time 
and rally his forces. 

In these intemperate threats. Senator Ballou concurred, and more 
than intimated that Dorr was to be cast into the shade. Notwith- 
standing, the sober judgment of that body left Harris and Ballou in 
a solitary minority. 

His imprisonment (right or wrong) excited new sympathies for 
liim, and increased old prejudices against the government. No man 
felt more for him than myself. I then thought and still think, that 
act was impolitic on the part of the government. 
9 



6G 



As his coiivictiuii liad vindicated the kuvs, I tlioughl a commuta- 
tion of the sentence would better comport with the mild spirit ot 
our repubUcau institutions, satisfied as I was, his oftences were the 
resuhs of inexcusable errors. Subsequent events certBinly prove 
these impressions were not ill founded. 

The Convention, not then under the control of Harris and Ballcu, 
whose ill-advised measures have so often impeded conciliatory and 
rational councils, declined taking action upon the subject of his im- 
prisonment, for the humane and beneficial reason, that it would natu- 
rally lead the whole party, into another unnecessary and irritating 
conflict with the Government ; and postpone or prevent an early 
commutation of his sentence, which I vv-as anxious io bring about by 
a moderate course, and which I had strong assurances from promi- 
nent members, would be done, after a sufficient example was set, to 
warn and deter others from the commission of similar offences. 

The Convention, however, advised his friends, that if they were 
desirous of manifesting their sympathies for the purposes avowed, 
the more appropriate way, and the least injurious to Dorr, would be, 
to call a special meeting for that purpose, wholly unconnected with 
the organized party. ^ . . ,,•,•, 

For moving this course, I agam incurred their displeasure and 
accumulative denunciations. 

Such a meetincr was holden on the fourth of July. In the mean 
time his partizans, gaining confidence from rumors abroad, indica- 
tino-'strono- feelino-s against the imprisonment, broached the subject 
of his liberation. This new topic inspired new zeal, and dethroned 
judgment and reason. 

dlney Ballou, Esq., presided at the meeting, and Dorrism revelled 
in its own luxuriant excesses. Resolutions temperate in language, 
prepared by Mr. Cowell as shown to me, were adopted. 

A General mass meeting was agreed upon, and a Committee ap- 
pointed to arrange the details, and fix the time, of which Judge 
Cowell was Chairman. 

THE GREAT MASS MEETING SEPTEMBER 4th— THE TITLE OF 
DEMOCRATIC MASS MEETING ASSUMED— THE NEW ISSUE- 
UNCONDITIONAL LIBERATION— THE PARTY COMMITTED. 

From frequent consultations with Judge Cowell, whose deliberate 
iudffment, if it had not been swayed by external appliances and in- 
temperate' influences, would have directed a judicious and concilia- 
tory course, I soon found that a spirit was aroused equalled only by 
that which preceded the deplorable event at the Arsenal. 

The imprisonment of Dorr, was made the pretext, by the leaders 
of the faction in this city, for new excitement and further agitation, 
not that they " loved him the less," but, themselves " the more." 

Thev knew that examples are contagious, and they redoubled thejr 
exertions, that the contagion might spread. 

They inhaled with the breeze, the gathering whirlwind of real or 
affected sympathies, and imparted to them new impulses by new ef- 

Politicians, at home and abroad, looking forward to the results of 
the Presidential canvass, with eager hopes for a share, under a new 



67 

despensation, seized upon these excitements to achieve their selfish 
objects, and led the masses by appeals to their passions. 

A haliuciaation (or the incarcerated, which he would never have 
otherwise acquired, was created, which found a response in the hearts 
ol' either sex. 

♦It veiled ull prior errors, and put reason aside. 

The Committee soon afterwards announced a Mass Meeting, and 
instead of foilowinrr the advice of the Convention for a Sympa- 
thy Meeting, entitled it, " DEMOCRATIC MASS MEETING," 
on the fourth of September, and injudiciously embracing in its ob- 
jects, the new issue of " Uncoxditional Libei'.ation." 

The annunciation of these momentous words, without defining the 
ways and means by which that object was to be achieved, not without 
cause, alarmed- the Government of the State, and produced the very 
injurious results to Dorr, which the Convention had wisely and liu- 
mandij intended to avoid. 

These words, unexplained, imported an opposition to the authority 
of the State, and danger to the prison. Unconditional liberation was 
the exact opposite of legal restraint. It implied defiance, reckless of 
all consequences. 

The note of preparations for a monster gathering from other States, 
certainly resembled too nearly the enlisted serfs of Dorr for the bat- 
tle field, with intimationsof hostility to the" Bastile" and sanctioned 
the legal import of these two portentous words. They increased 
alarm, and again the military energies of the State were put into re- 
quisition, to protect its property and citizens from apprehended as- 
saults, which the injudicious measures of the committee had invited 
and provoked. 

I was placed in a. delicate situation, my advice had been spurned, 
I was watched and suspected by the infuriated bigots, who had advised 
and promoted these excitements, and yet, the time at length arrived, 
when I had to act as a mediator between them and the Governor, for 
pacification, as he and Judge Cowell well know. I disclose no farther. 

A sympathy meeting would have had a greater effect, as many 
were deterred from attending through fear of the results that might 
ensue. All alarm would have been avoided. 

After the n^ischief was done, the abhorred and rejected Ballot-Box, 
which would have " expatriated" Dorr and his associates, eighteen 
months before, was snail like embodied into a resolution as the medi- 
um by which, unconditioned liberation was to be accomplished. 

It is peculiarly amoug the absurdities in the theory of Dorrism, 
first to create mischief and turmoil, and then be compelled to seek 
reform in the sad lessons they have taught. Thus was the Demo- 
cratic party committed to unconditional liberation. Here^ ends 
the Dorr jJctrtt/ proper, 

NEW PARTY— DO PiRITE DORRISM. SUDDEN LOVE FOR 
MR. FOLK. 
Deriving confidence from their first essays on the Fourth of July, 
in the display of banners of Polk, Dallas and Dorr, they found them- 
selves, like the swarm without itsdueen, hanging inperturbed groups 
outside the hive. 

All further communication with their leader was interdicted. No 



OS 

longer could he indite dispatches and promulgate mandates for their 
direction and obeisance. 

They thought his race was run. 

Recovering from their panic, which the loss of Mr. Van Buren, 
the substitution of Mr. Polk, and the imprisonment of Dorr had pro- 
duced ; they took advantage of the facilities which his unfortunate 
position imparted, fanned the embers of sympatiietic fires — pushed 
the new issue of liberation — fell suddenly and violently in love with 
Mr. Polk — arranged the cohesive elements of original Dorrism into 
DoRRiTE Dorrism — set up for themselves, and rushed under the 
stealthily acquired costume of abused Democracy, commingled in a 
general scramble for the *' spoils." 

The STx\Rs of Dorr and liberation, were no farther regarded or be-, 
loved, than as they served to illumine their devious paths. 

CHARACTER OF THE NEW PARTY. 

The composition of the new party, embodied and still embodies a 
rare compoundof opposite materials. Suffrage men — Dorrites prop- 
er — Dorrites improper — Ojjiee seeking Democrats — Candidates of 
every hue for the State ojjiccs, when they get the power — Apostate 
Whigs — Abolition ists — Offce holders — Man ivorshippers — Bank and 
Anti Bankites— High Tariff" and Low Tariff^Anti Texas, and An- 
ti Oregon — Assumptionists of State Debts — Clay men — Polk and 
Anti Polk men,«fcc. &c. 

The vinculum formed at the great mass meeting of Sept. 4th, by 
which, this adulterated mass of exclusive patriotism was bound togeth- 
er last year, was UNCONDITIONAL LIBERATION of the 
" Champion," and which in future is to bind them, is "RESERVED 
RESTORATION and CONFIRMATION." 

The principle usurped, is that of EXCLUSIVE DEMOCRACY. 

ITS DIVISION— THE LEADERS AND THE LED. 

The Leaders compose the office making monopoly and the officers 
made, with some honorable exceptions. They possess nor retain no 
fixed and determinate principles beyond the acquisition of office and 
self promotion. 

They supported Mr. Polk as the representatitive of Democratic 
measures, but prefer Mr. Clay, as the embodiment of Whig measures. 
They support liberation and restoration, but deny they are Demo- 
cratic measures; yet they claim to be, as Dorr has taught them, the 
only true Democracy of the State, " no man is a Democrat"" who does 
not recognise his measures — the only sincere regard they entertain 
for him, consists in the advantages, his melancholy condition imparts 
to them : their professed attachment to him is deceptive, seJfsh and 
ephemercd. 

These out of the scale, they would desert and denounce him to-day, 
as readily as they did at the Arsenal and Chepatchet! ! 

The led compose an entire different rudmore worthy class of the 
community. They seek nor want office. They constitute the bone 
and sinews of the party : — they are mostly young, enterprising, and 
discreet men — generally true democrats and honestly believe,they are 
sustaining democratic principles, by ratifying the measures which the 
leaders prepare. They are Yeomen, Mechanics and Lauokers. 



69 

and have not time and leisure to examine into the frauds and in- 
trigues of their assumed leaders : — they honestly believe in the recti- 
tude of Dorr's conduct, and therefore their attachment to him is 
sincere : — when they become satisfied, his measures were violative 
of the laws and Constitution of their couutrv — and that their Lea- 
ders have, and are betraying them into an estrangement from their 
honest principles, they will patriotically revolt and discard them and 
their pernicious heresies : — honest, industrious and well-meaning 
themselves, they distrust not others, until they find themselves led 
into errors of frightful consequences and dangerous intrigues : — 
The present aspect of our political State affairs has already arrested 
their attention and promoted enquiry. 

Persevere, Fellow-Citizens, and you will find plots and intriaues 
of the most revolting character, to which your own credulity, if lon- 
ger indulged, will make you victims. 

Your assufiied leaders are seducing you into measures under false 
plausible issues, for their own aggrandizement, — and requiring you 
to sacrifice the principles you cherish and entertain, 

OBJECT IN VIEW THE "SPOILS." 

The September Mass Meeting, under sympathies for Dorr, and 
the disguise of Democracy, was used by the office-making monopoly, 
as the means of expressing their new devotion to Mr. Polk, while the 
covert and real design was, to place themselves in conspicuous posi- 
tions, and to enable them to palm themselves upon the new Presi- 
dent, if elected, as the great heads and representatives of the true 
democratic party, which they had thus supplanted. 

The Dorrite Delegates to Baltimore, Hezekiah Willard, who, by 
the bye, has boxed every point of compass ir» Dorrism, OIney Ballou,^ 
with their instructors, in courtesy, Harris, Wales, Anthony, &,c, 
though reluctantly assenting to the nomination of Mr. Polk, became 
arrogant and domineering. 

The Committee spared no exertions in their invitation to distin^ 
guished Democrats to attend the great jubilee of Liberation, who 
very politely condescended to return flattering, though cautious re-, 
plies, with a solitary exception, 

He, a late convert to Democracy, with the echoes of libel and 
traduction of our venerated and lamented JACKSON, still assailing 
his ear from Faneuil Hall, in his new horn zeal for the " new de^i 
MOCRACY," pushed agitation and Liberation to a fearful point}. 

After the election, the President elect was threatened in advance, 
" if he should presume to appoint to office any in Rhode Island, but? 
rabid Dorrites." This was the common theme in the Herald office,^ 
and other places of resort for the State Sovereignty. 

It became apparent that the old democracy was to be swallowed 
up, by this unnatural progeny of Dorrite Dorrism, and made the 
victim of the untiring exertion of the office-seeking and office-mak- 
ing monopoly. 

The scene below gives a fair specimen of the actsoffthis monopoly 
and shows the attainment of office, was the only object they aimed 
at irrespective of democracy and its measures. 



70 

GRRENWICII TEXAS CONVENTION— MOVEMENT OF THE MO- 
NOPOLY. 

As the wliiir pnpcrs were constant in their opposition, and the 
co'iunius of the Democratic Ilrrald and Gazette were occupied prin- 
cipally witli " hallehijahs" of Dorrisnis, w^e of the old democratic 
party, thought it time some action should be had in this State, to 
promote enquiry and examination into the great Democratic mea- 
sure — tlie re-acquisition of Texas — a subject which Dorrism had not 
then reached. 

Feb. 17th, we proposed a Convention at Greenwich, Co. of 
Rent, invitino; all friendly to that object for this ])urpose, and to en- 
coura<>;e and sustain such of our delegations in Congress as might 
feel disposed to render their aid, in achieving this great measure. 
Messrs. Francis & Potter were both favorably inclined towards it, 
but as no manifestations had been made in the State in its favor, but 
strongly the reverse — except three numbers I had written for Mr. 
Church's Gazette, they thought the people were generally opposed 
to it. 

I drew up a notice, which the Gazette readily inserted — but, 
which the old Democratic '' Republican Herald," then tinctured 
with the influences of the monopoly, refused, on the ground, " it 
did not emanate from the State's Committee," but \Qiy politely offer- 
ed to insert it as " an advertisement, if I would sign it." I refused, 
and denied the State Committee had any thing to do with call- 
inir a Convention of the people for purposes, other than for State, 
and the nomination of otficers. 

Of the propriety of this, the Editor of the Herald was fully satis- 
fied, after some severe strictures in the Gazette, upon this unwar- 
rantable attpm])t to dictate to the people, wlien and how they should 
assemble for the discussion of public or other measures. 

The call of this Convention, to my utter surprise, aroused the 
Monopoly, who marshalled their energies, with the " Herald" in the 
rear, from a fear the " Gazette" would get the start of it, and en- 
deavored by every means to suppress tlie meeting. 

They charged mc, with having bargained with Gov. Fenncr, and 
other prominent Democrats, of the Law and Order ])arty, with a 
design of using the " Texas question," through this Convention, as 
a means of acquiring office for myself and friends, from the Presi- 
dent Elect, and oi nipping their neicly-formcd attachment for him 
and " Texas." 

No effort was spared by them to defeat the meeting ; but finding 
this movement was becoming popular with the old Democratic party, 
in order to preserve their assumed position of " exclusive Democ- 
racy," they wheeled into line, and concluded to appear at Green- 
wich, and take possession of the Convention, out of the liands of the 
Democrats who had called it. 

Accordingly, meetings were holden in this city, in an obscure up- 
per loft, of dark and suspicious character — resolutions for the Con- 
vention were drawn — letters written and despatched to their "■faith- 
ful," in every town in the county, stating that " Gov. Fenner, Judge. 
Branch and myself were to be the officers," and urging them " to be 
at Greenwich, and vote us and all democrats out." ("A copy of one 
of these letters is now at my command.) 



71 

To perfect this purpose, they chartered extra cars for $00, raised 
$125, furnished free tickets, invited " Tray, Blanche and Siceet- 
heart," and on their passage to Kent in the cars, appointed thctir 
own officers: — on their arrival, ihej seized possession of the State- 
House — instahed the car-elected into office — look the lead — and 
adopted their own resolutions ! 

This was no less sur|)rising, than the fact, that I had not seen — ■- 
nor interchanged, directly or indirectly, a word, either with Gover- 
nor Fenner, or Judge Hrancii, on this or any other suhject, for more 
than four weeks previous. Neither knew any thing about the Con- 
vention, other than they might have seen its notice — nor was either 
at Greenwich ! ! ! It is impossible to describe the laughable scene on 
their arrival. 

John R. Waterman, one of those who advised the Convention, 
and who had not then given his adhesion to the Monopoly, to secure 
the paltry AVarwick light for his son-in-law, toe k almost forcible 
possession of my resolutions, and undertook to control the imported 
Texfan patriots from the city of Providence. 

He told them " this was a Convention of the democrats of that 
county, and he had a set of resolutions, which were satisfactory to 
them, and they must not interfere." Consternation and shame, in 
those susceptible of shame, stood on every countenance, when they 
found Messrs. Fenner and Branch were not there, and they had lost 
the opportunity of voting them out. Recovering from their momen- 
tary amazement, they admonished Waterman against persisting in 
his original purposes, and finally took the State House by storm — 
organized the new democracy, with Hezekiah Willard, our wor-v 
thy Collector now, as President, and the Editor of the Ilerald, as 
Secretary, who had opposed and endeavored to defeat any Conven- 
tion ! ! ! When I came in, such was the state of things ! 

As I was retiring, several of my old friends, insisted upon my re- 
turn with them, and to witness the farce, without any intention of 
participating in it. 

Soon after their Orators had exhausted their stcrroii/ped quain- 
tances, on Sovereignty — Clamhakes — Champions — Ladies' Fetes — 
Treadivellism, &c. — manifested their transcendant devotion to Presi- 
dent Polk — secured a lien upon all the offices — admitted Texas, in 
defiance of iJif«Vo, and the allied powers of the world ; a general 
call was made upon me to address the Convention. 

Refusing at first, by urgent request to present my resolutions, 
which admonished Waterman, had not the courage to do, I consent- 
ed ; and although they were respectfully referred to a Committee, of 
which he had consented to be Chairman, and although it was a 
meeting of that county ! after stealthily using one of mine compli- 
mentary to Gen. Jackson, rejected the very one designed to encour- 
age our members in Congress, to support it : viz : " And therefore, if 
the Representatives and Senators in Congress from this State, should 
cast their votes in favor of ' Annexation,' we cannot refrain from the 
expressions of our firm belief, that such vote or votes by them o-iven, 
would be commended and approved — rather than censured and re- 
proved — by their fellow-citizens." 

Such was their great zeal for this democratic measure, that they 
actually refused to sustain or encourage our Senators and Represen- 
tatives, in supporting it ! 



72 

Haviricr accomplished these exploits, with a mimic pow-wow of 
Indian triumph, which silenced the warnings of the whistle of the 
cars, they returned to the city, with the freshly plucked verdant lau- 
rels of Texas, and devotion to the President elect ! ! 

After all — this Texas meeting was used by the leaders in this play 
of " Love's labor lost," at Washington, for their benefit, and my 
humble self, was there represented by them, as having come into it 
and disturbed its proceedings. 

A DIGRESSION— THE SENATORSHIP :— AMNESTY NOT FAVOR- 
ED BY ARNOLD, &c.— WHIG SCHISM. 

Omens of discord in the Whig Law and Order" party, appeared 
and portended momentous results. At the January Session of the 
Assembly^ 1845, Hon. L. H. Arnold revived his claimSj long post- 
poned, for the Senatorship in the United States Senate, as colleague 
with Senator Simmons. These two gentlemen had formerly been 
colleagues in the General Assembly^ and also COLLEAGUES while 
members, in the grand attempt of legislating the State out of the old 
Pawtucket Turnpike^ which nets to its impoverished treasury, when 
prudently managed, about $3,600, per annum^ and quietly putting 
these proceeds into their own coffers. 

This project was arrested by an early discovery and exposure of its 
designs ! ! ! 

Senator Simmons had got the start of his old colleague, and there- 
fore, felt under some obligation to render him all his assistance, in 
time of need. 

Mr. Arnold, who had spent his sage advice iti Gov. King's Coun- 
cil, and exhausted his valor on the field of conflict, with " Rebel- 
lious Dorrites," claimed this boon for adventures hazardous, and 
services eminent, in suppressing rebellion and sustaining the supre- 
macy of the Governmenti 

The popular and gentlemanly General Greene, was his rival and 
Successful competitor. Each persisted : neither would withdraw. 

Senator Simmons was not an indifferent spectator. Advised of 
his old friend's position, he neglected his Senatorial duties and visit- 
ed his State on two or three miss*ions to arrange the details and 
superintend his friend Arnold's election. 

Charles Jackson, now i Governor, and Samuel F. Man, Esq., 
friends of Senator Simmons, with such appliances and influences as 
they might exertj soon entered the list, and nobly battled {or Mr. 
Arnold. A contest was inevitable. 

While these scenes were enacting, a third candidate was started, 
under a modus operandi, known only to Mr. J. R. Waterman and 
myselfj which, if it had succeeded, would have been of most laugha- 
ble import, at the expense of Senator Ballon, and his other memo- 
rialists ! 

The friends of both candidates assumed hostile attitudes. Law 
and Order j staggered under disorder. Arnold was defeated. 

During the progress of these events, indicating results since trans- 
pired, an Amnesty Act was proposed and passed, placing liberation 
at the option of Dorr, on condition of taking an oath of allegiance 
to the existing Constitution, against which, he and his whole party 
had publicly protested. 



73 

Of this act, Dorr would then have availed himself, had he and 
Senator Bajjou, not been engaged, in preparing and arranging that 
abominable and treasonable memorial ! ! 

For the part I took with Gov. Feinier, at the request of my friend 
Wptermau, (who could not approach him, although formerly political 
friends,) and wlio, then was associated with me and other democrats 
of the old school, in efforts to resist and regulate the monopoly, " to 
obtain his consent to strike out the condition of the oath," I was 
again denounced by them in the severest manner, for a supposed con- 
spiracy against their Sovfrcignfy ! ! 

Subsequently, I was attacked in the Herald office, by my deceased 
friend, Col. Simons, and some half dozen others of the patriotic 
Monopoly, and catechised, if, I " had been rightly understood by 
some Ladies," to whom, I had said, " Dorr ought to take the oath." 

Tiiis enquiry was made with warmth, and no little feeling of in- 
dignation ! My answer was short, and with equal warmth and em- 
phasis, viz : 

" The Ladies have reported me rightly — it is a duty he bwes to 
himself; — to society ; — to the State, and to his country ! ! ! " 

Angry expressions, which I will not repeat, fell from them^ which 
only showed their errors and confirmed their fanaticism ! 

This was the unpardonable oflfence against the majesty of the 
Monopoly, and supremacy of Dorrism, which severed me, from its 
polluted alliances. 

Observe the date of this Amnesty Act. Messrs. Jackson, Sim- 
mons, Arnold, ALm, and other allies, are not known to have favored 
liberation at all ! The Senatorsuip absorbed every other consider- 
ation. 

Amnesty, LibePvAtion, repose and pacification, in the State, 
were but minor and secondary objects. Patriotic solicitude for 
these desideratums, had not then lit up in their bosoms, its elemen- 
tary fires, nor developed any aspirations for tranquillity, or any ardor 
for the convict Chief ! ! ! 

The defeat of Arnold abriipted the vinculum, which enchained 
Whiggism and Law and Order. The Rubicon was forded: — the 
alternative, to advance or to retreat, was before them. To retreat, 
was unavailable for further hospitality in the circles they had left-^ 
To advance afforded them the only prospect of future success. In 
this opposing position, the perturl)ed elements of Law and Order and 
Whicrcrism, were lashed, by the defeat of Arnold, Simmons, and their 
friendl The only ALTERNATIVES, in the future distant, 

were 

New ALLIANCES or new » RETIREMENT." 



10 



PART THIRD 



CLOSING S C E :; E — P R O V I D E N C E . 

POSITION OF THE OFFICE NAMING MONOPOLY.— STATE COJh' 
VENT10i\, MARCH 13. 

" The Ides of March''' were rapidly approaching, when the hopes 
and aspirations of the Dorrite monopoly were to be consmmnated or 
disappointed. The inanguration of the President, was the goal of 
their ambition, and the altar of their worship. The cUtn of the new 
Democracy — like the pioneer pigeon for the best gleanings of the 
harvest, had repaired to Yv^ashington, in their appropriate characteris- 
tics to " superintend" the ceremonies. 

In the polish of courlly etiquette, they were commissioned to take 
the pulse of Dorrism, in the newly organized Cabinet; to ascertain 
the extent o( their sacri^ces in supporting Mr. Polk, and to return and 
report progress. 

Messrs. "Wil!ard, Harris, Ballou, Anthony, Burgess, Seamans, &c. 
having crossed the 7wble Susguchaiviah, safely from all foreign hand- 
icraft,* arrived at the Capitnl, and by the courtesies of the Hon. Mr. 
Burke, who had shouldered Dorrism, enlivened and cheered the as- 
sembled masses. The " new Democracy" of Rhode I.^^land, thus rep- 
resented by some of the most intolerant and abusive Whigs of 1840- 
41, found a warm reception in the Navy department, the new depos- 
itory of" agitation and liberation" of her captive son. 

The " POLAR star" of Dorrism, obscured with the vernal vapors 
of the glassy Potomac, rested awhile over the Capitol, shed a few re- 
buking rays, over its noble dome, for the violated and infracted Con- 
stitution of its country, speeded its cotn-se — illuminating in its flight, 
and rose, ASCENDANT, at the other extremity of the AVENUE. 

The annunciation of this result, outsped the Telegraph, and germ- 
ed a new hatch of converts and new accessions to the monopoly. A 
few old Democrats thus advised of its ascendancy at the Capitol, 
who had fought Whigism in every form, and reproved the excesses of 
the Dorr faction, desirous of ofiice themselves, or for some near rela- 
tives, hastily came forward, with a patriotism disinterested, and an 
integrity unsuspected, and embraced with fraternal affection, the tri- 
bune of the office makers. 

The State Central Committee in accordance with previous arrange- 
ments had postponed the Convention until the 13th, for the purpose 
of ascertaining the above important result, and to give the represen- 
tatives time to return and participate in its deliberations. 

'Senator Ballou can explain liiis allusion. 



TflK COMPACT AND ITS PARTIES. 

The Dorritc Dorrism organization, claiming to be the " exclusive 
democratic party" whose great measures are, Suh-trcasury , Anti- 
Bank, Anti Tariff, Anti A.^ sumption, anti internal improvement — ior 
Texas, Oregon, extension of territory, strict construction, inviolabil- 
ity of constitutions, Statcsovereignty, &c. having noman initsranks 
"who could connnand the conhdence of the citizens of this State," 
and disdaining alliauce with old and tried Democrats, who have avoid- 
ed all alliances with Whigisin, law and order, aboliiion and jiativism, 
comprising the parti/ of the first part. 

The disrupted jjortion of the Whig and law and order, claiming 
to be the exclusive Whig party of the Stale, whose great measures 
are the exact opposite in every respect, and who cxultingly avow 
their principles to be " utterly opposed in every parliculir"' to Dorr- 
ism, in all Ibrnis and shapes, and to the Democratic {)arty, that elect- 
ed Mr. Polk, comprising the party of the second purl, AG'llEED, 
COVENANTED, and COiVIPACTED, to unite, form and constitute 
a new political party, irrespective of political creeds, and unscrupu- 
lous of moral principle, to be entitled, the ME^¥ BtiM^Cl^A- 
CT of the State. 

The objects of the Union are, Pacification to the State, uncondi- 
tional liberation first; reserved restoration second: — expulsion of all 
dissenting democrats, and subject to such conditions as tlie party of 
the second part", shall propose to be ratified by any Convention here- 
after, " in an authoritative manner," Done at Providence, March, 
1845. 

This compact was duly entered into, and interchangably agreed 
to, by Waterman, Cowell, &c. Jackson, Arnold &c. an<l duly ap- 
proved by John S. Harris, «& Co, 

LOSS AND GAIN OF THE COMPACT. 

Democracy loses its distinctive idc.ntiiij ; — surrenders its princi- 
ples : — transfers itself to disrupted Whiggery, and obligates itself 
to Simmons &l Co. 

Dorrism loses nothing — it is a trafiicable article, but discredited 
in market : — What principles it had, it transferred to Simmons, Jack- 
son, Arnold and Man, who took such special good care of it in 1842. 

Disrupted Whiggerj gains the support of Dorrites and Dorrite 
democracy : — all the offices — distinctions — perquisites thereto be- 
longing — the entire control oi the " Leaders,''' who contract to bring 
up the ranlc and file — sacrifices no principles, and holds the whole 
party under bondage, through certain facilities hereafter explained. 

COMPACT RATIFIED IN CONVENTION— FIRST CONDITION 
EXACTED— JACKSON GOVERNOR. 

The Convention assembled : the sympathetic fires of the contract- 
ing parties for Dorr, burst into a blaze, for "tranquillity and pacifi- 
cation," to the State, and consumed all other considerations, except 
the means to accomplish them. The imprisonment of Dorr was 
the cause of disturbing this tranquillity. 

To achieve these desirable ends — Waterman, Coii)ell,.&Lc. — Jack- 
son, Arnold, &c., — " beat their spears iuto jjruning hooks," sub- 
dued their antagonist passions : — reconciled tiieir mutual contempts 
for each other : — disarmed themselves of their six- barrelled piece« — '■ 



76 

their dirks and bowie-knives, which they had brandished with chival- 
rous knighthood, in defending and subduing " rebellions Dorrites,'* 
and very sympathetically concluded, the only \vay to restore peace 
and quiet, was " Unconditional Liberation." 

His Excellency, and Senator Simmons, all of a sudden, forgot 
their invoked sympathy of the people of the United States, and their 
own, '■ For violated Laic and a suffering community " for the " high 
crime of Treason," which they charged Dorr of coimnittnig — trans- 
ferred it over to him — although only four months before, October 21, 
1844, in an address to the people of the United States, they had sol- 
emnly declared. Dorr was not \vorthy of any sympathy M'hatever, and 
was then " receiving the just punislimcnt of the late, provided for^' 
' — his high crime ! ! 
They say: 

*' We hope, if there is to be any sympathy among the citizens of 
other States, in relation to the troubles in Rhode-Ishmd, that it will 
be a sympathy for VIOLATED LAW and a SUFFERING COM- 
MUNITY, and NOT FOR THOSE, who are receiving the punish- 
ment, which the Law has provided for their offences."* 

No new sympathy for him \Yas excited,'and yet, his Excellency, and 
Senator Simmons, by a sudden turn of the screw, admit, by their 
own acts, and new zeal for liberation, that they, and twenty-one other 
gentlemen of the highest character and reputation, had deliberatel}' 
attempted to deceive the people of the United States, in relation to 
Dorr's acts and crimes. 

The restoration of tranquillity then, was to be effected, by a yield- 
ing of all sympathy for violated laio and a suffering community, 
which his Excellency and Senator Simmons had so pathetically in- 
voked, to the claims and importunity of the party, they had just con- 
tracted with, to elevate him into the Chair of Chief Magistrate ! 

The suffering portion of the community, was entirely disregarded 
and cast aside, for the votes of THOSE, whose offences ought to be 
visited with the punishment of the Laws ! ! 

Dorr was then at liberty to liberate himself, at any moment, under 
the Amnesty, passed only four weeks before, which his Excellency, 
Arnold, Man, and their legislative friends, not only omitted to pro- 
mote, but secretly opposed ! 

His Excellency's opposition to liberation, was not yet overcome, 
for he insisted upon a condition precedent, to his consenting to be a 
candidate for Governor of the new coalition, and his advocating lib- 
eration at all. 

A condition of a remarkable character, but one which he took 
special care to reserve in the compact with Cowell and Waterman. 

They suffered themselves to be overreached in their impetuous 
zeal, to obtain a candidate from any quarter, (out side of the demo- 
cratic party,) who " could command the confidence" of the public. 

While they granted this power to his Excellency,, to enforce any 
condition, they reserved no part of their " Sovereignty " of which 
they so much boast, to resist or counteract the exaction ! 

Judge Cowell, had he been on the bench, in the exercise^of the legal 

*Address, October 21, 1844, signed by JM. Knight, M, Ives, C. Jackson, and 
J. F. Simmons, &c. 



ficumen for whicli he is distinguished, between ether parties, would 
undoubtedly, have vacated the compact, lor want of reciprocal con- 
siderations ! ! ! 

His Excellency, to evince his zeal and sincerity for liberation, very 
courteously took the declaration of the whole democratic purty in 
February, 1843, from my address, (see ante p. 49,) embodied its 
sentiments and language into a resolution, and commanded the Con- 
vention to re-adopt it, and to re-acknowledge the validity of the ex- 
isting Constitution, as a " condition precedent to his advocating lib- 
eration.'' 

CONDITION FIRST. 

♦■ Resolved, That the Constitution under wliich the government of 
this State is now organized, is valid and binding upon the people 
thereof; that while in the recent legislation under said Constitution, 
we see much to regret, the Constitution itself, as citizens, we are 
bound to support, and that we have no desire to change or amend 
the same, in any other than in a constitutional ar.d legal way, as 
therein provided." 

This resolution was dictated, revised and corrected b_y his E.xcel- 
lency, after its passage by the Convention. It is but a literal trans- 
cript of that of 1843 adopted by the same party, and who were bound 
by it until it was reversed ! 

Fellow citizens. Yon have not examined and reflected u)jon the 
degradation to whicli this resolution subjected, and now subjects 
you. 

Allow me to direct your attention to a few of the humiliating con- 
siderations it suggests to my mind. If they impress you, as they 
do and did me, at the time it was adopted, my worthy friends, his 
Excellency, Waterman, Cowell, »kc. ought no longer to receive your 
confidence, much Icssyoux support. 

Consistency in public functionaries, is a merit of the choicest val- 
ue — whilst its opposite destroys confidence and impairs integrity ! 
'I'be proposal of this resolution by his Excellency was sufficiently 
degrading ot itself. 

Its import falsifies his sincerity, and exposes the covert and secret 
designs it was intended to achieve. I put it to the candor and honor 
of Gov. Jackson, and I know he appreciates both, if he really, and 
sincerely entertained the opinion, that there was any necessity for 
adopting this resolution at that time? "Was there any open opposi- 
tion to the existing Constitution by the people 1 Were the members 
of the Convention in revolt against it? Were they not then sittin"- 
in the State House, enjoying, like any other body of citizens, the 
immunities and privileges of FREEMEN, guaranteed — secured 
and protected by the very Constitution, whose validity and recogni- 
tion liis Excellency gravely asked and demanded them, to re-acknowl- 
edge ? Had not they — and the whole party two years before, (with 
the solitary exception of the conspirator Dorr, and his betrayed me- 
morialists against it, and whom Congress liad arrested) aban- 
doned the people's Constitution — and their protest against the 
present one 1 Were they not bound and fixed bylaw and every 
moral and civil obligation by its adoption ? Had not they, by iheir 
registering their names — paying their register taxes — aixl qualify- 



78 

ins; themselves ;i? Electors and FREEMEN under it — acknowl- 
edged its validity Mud binding force? Were they not then engaged 
in the very act of putting his Excellency in nomination, for the 
very purpose of exercising the riglits of FREEIVIEN, under the Con- 
stitution ? Had they intimated to Mr. Jackson, that they were about 
to select and elect him Chief Magistrate, to subvert and to overthrow 
it? 

The resolution, tti^n, was a libel upon their integrity — an im- 
peachment of tlieir s\vorn allegiance ; — an insult upon their citizen- 
si, ip; — a base suspicion of their fidelity; — an indignity upon their 
honor, and a humiliating </e^ra(/a^io?« upon them, as Electors and 
Freemen ! ! 

Incredible, surprising, humiliating, as it is, there were in the Con- 
vention, members of the General Assembly, who, three weeks be- 
fore, occupied and legislated in the very seats, officially acknow- 
ledging and sworn to support the Constitution, which CHARLES 
JACKSON, thus demanded them — " as a condition to his advo- 
catino- Liberation," to rc-acknowledgc and re-admit its binding force 
upon them, unofficialhj ! ! !* 

Yes, such men — and also such, as Messrs. Cowell, Waterman, 
P. Allen, jun. B. B. Thurston, Judge But^um, &,c. who were also 
Ttiembers of the Convention, and whom I highly esteem, but whose 
Jate policy I condemn, for the deluded purpose o( appeasing mid 
conciliating the sicMij majcsti/ of evanesc< nt Durrism, quietly per- 
mitted these degrading, insidious, dishonorable imputations and im- 
peachment of their allegiance, not only upon themselves and the 
whole body of citizens they represented, but astonishingly ! confirm- 
ed them, by adopting the resolution, in its revised and corrected form, 
by Jackson ! ! ! 

The resolution, Fcilow-Cilizons, ostracised yon, from the class of 
good and peaceable citizens of the State, and classified yon, with 
rebels and conspirators against the Constitution ! ! ! Else, why re- 
quire you to re-acknowledge its validity ? 

You, honest and industrious Mechanics; my brother Farmers ; 
my old democratic associates ; you, my young countrymen ; all, 
who may be called into active public life ; while you were engaged 
in your workshops — your fields — your studies — your counting- 
rooms — or at your fire-sides — partaking of the pleasures and en- 
dearments of your bosom companions — or mingling in the sportive 
amusements of your little ones ; — protected in your rights of suf- 
frage as ELECTORS— as FREEMEN ;— shielded from harm and 
rutfian atrocities, by tlie sovereign power of the Constitution you 
acknowledged, and yielded a willing and cordial assent and alle- 
giance to. Your assumed LEADI^US, your Cowells, your Water- 
mans, your Butfums, your Arnolds and your Jacksons, were de- 
grading you from the high station of FREEMEN, and peaceable 
citizens — to the level of insurrectionists — ready to mingle in rebel- 
lion against the government you acknowledged and supported, at the 
echo of the bugle, which should summon you to resistance!!! 
"What were the "iniluences which prompted this condition, and 
permitted its degrading acquiescence ? A sickli/, hypocritical, and 
insincere sympathy for him, whom his Excellency aod Senator Sim- 

* Herald Maicli 11"', 1815. 



79 

mons had just publicly proclaimed to the world, as h Traitor, and 
who was then receiving the just punishnieiit of violated law ! 

This was not the reason of the exaction : It was the pretext for 
aggrandizement — the ladder of oilice and the begnilement for treach- 
ery. 

THE PLAN I PllOl'OSEU. 

In the early part of the day, this stupendous intrigue, tlicse un- 
hallowed degradations, were to be consummated, my old friend 
Waterman, in extacies at Jackson's consent to be the Candidate, 
came into my oflice, and attempted to betray me, into the humiliat- 
ing condition into which his easy virtues had engulphed hniijelf. • 

He essayed to obtain my plan, but, before he succeeded, with all 
his artifices (and few excel him) I possessed myself of his. My 
friend will not deny it, as the Hazards of West-Greenwich, Exeter, 
and South Kingstown, and Fenners of Coventry, well know. I le- 
volted at the intrigue, but when the condition of the consent was 
disclosed, I denounced both him and his j)!an. 

Governor Jackson as a man, I respect; — as a politician, I dis- 
own . 

Mv PLAN was to nominate a clear Democratic Ticket, and, if 
any portion of disrtq)tcd Whiggery was so allured, by its sympathy 
for Dorr, let them manifest it in the rear, not at the head of the as- 
sumed Democratic party. 

Since then, my friend Waterman counsels with such Democrats 
as Lemuel II. Arnold, James F. Simmons and his Excellency, who 
are not only opposed to all Democratic measures, but exultingly 
boast, they entertain no political principles in common with Demo- 
crats, and utterly despise and ridicule Dorrites. 

The day after the Convention, a large number of its members in 
a body, came into my office of their own accord, to consult what 
Was best to be done. 

As a part of the history, though smattering of flattery I relate it, 
to prove the uniform course I have pursued. Hon. T. T. Hazard 
opened the objects of the meeting, and stated they had come there 
for consultation, and addressing me, said, " You are about the only 
man left, on whom the old Democracy can rely." 

I acknowledge this address flattering — but it was true then, and 
true now. I am no man-worshipper. 

Because, I resisted all coalitions, and have sustained the great 
Democratic measures of the country, regardless of the delusions of 
Dorrism, or any other ism, this mass of corrupted and intriguing 
demagogues, have denounced me, though they have not changed my 
position or affected my political principles. 

I stand precisely in the position, and am pursuing the same path, 
I did in 184'i, when I penned into my second address, the following 
language, to direct the course of procedure of those, who now viru- 
lently assail me. 

Had I then held the pen of prophecy, I could not have drawn a 
more accurate portrait of the present position of the party into which, 
"insidious coalitions" have involved them. 

It is a mirror that reflects truly, their own degradation. I hope 
all Democrats will examine for themselves, viz : 



80 

(V^" Oar party organization is not alone confined within the territo- 
rial limits of the Statf. Its aims are co-extensive with the Demo- 
cracy of the whole country. Its hond of union is founded on prin- 
ciples coeval with the duration of American freedom. It stoops not 
for the mere temporary ascendancy in the State government, and 
therefore, contemns all insiduous coalitions, and avoids all entangling 
alliances with opposite, ambitious and aristocratic demagogues. It 
looks heyond the degrading and temporising policy that darkens the 
character, slurs the reputation, and embroils the councils of our in- 
tolerant and oppressive opponents. It looks to future national 
events of higher and nobler import. It looks to the full and com- 
plete triumph of the national Democracy , and the s\izcess^n\ prostra- 
tion of Federal Whiggrr]/ in our national councils. "<=^ 

Who of us adhere to these principles? Who of us are travelling 
in the path above pointed out? We of the old school, or the mush- 
room Dcmocrac}/, that has sprung up in the night shades and mildews 
of deserted and avoided Dorrism? 

No, Fellow-Citizens, of every class, your Leaders have degraded 
you and themselves, and slandered your patriotism, and devotion to 
the Constitution you acknowledge. 

As FREEMEN — US Democrats — as Whigs — as good and peaceable 
citizens, with the examples of the dangerous heresies you have pur- 
sued before you, and which I have endeavored to expose, and warn 
you against — rise up in your better manhood — withdraw your confi- 
dence, they have treacherously betrayed, and discard theili, asfester- 
ing carbuncles tipon the escutcheon of your Democracy \ 

The Resolution, corrected and revised, was passed. His Excel- 
lency, Charles Jackson, was nominated and became the candidate of 
Dorritc Dorrism, disrupted Whiggism, degraded and deteriorated 
Democracy ! ! ! 

His Excellency's inaugural speech a few days after, deserves and 
shall have a place. 

The Painting excels the original. I cheerfully give place to him. 
Waterman, Cowell,iSoC., and their magnificent intrigues are drawn to 
the life, while Dorrism is assigned to the drudgeries of the kitchen. 



^ ^ ^ 



SPEECH AT MASONIC HALL, OLD MARKET. 

" When I was first approached upon the subject, 1 asked, why I 
^vas selected for the place — a person — wliose principles icerc so well 
known to be so utterly opposed to theirs in almost every particular, 
both upon local and national questions, I was assured — It was not 
with any expectation that you, (Jackson,) shotdd abandon any of 
your principles, on local or national matters, that we — (Waterman 
and Coweil, &c.) — come to you 1 ! ! 

It is for the purpose — and sole purpose — of effecting the pacifi- 
cation of the State ! ! ! * * 

/ do not come here to advocate — the unconditional liberation 
op Mr. Dorr — on the ground that — he has done no wrong — or, 
that he is entitled to claim his liberation as a matter of right: — far 
from it. Such is not my opinion. * * * * 

I deemed it proper — that the State should pass an Act of uncon- 
ditional liberation — for the purpose of disposing of this question for- 



SI 

ever — and restoring harmony among the people of the State ! ♦ • • 
I have allowed my name — (what a sricrifice !) to be used at the 
head of this Ticket : — because — 

" I DEEMED THAT SOME MAN WAS REQUIRED WHO COTJtD COM- 
MAND THE CONFIDENCE of the cifizens of this Slate" ! ! ! 

" Angels and ministers oi grace defend" such patriotism ! Whither 
had gone his invoked "sympathy for violaf^d law and a sutiering 
community"? 

Where that Amnesty, he, and his colleagues, had strenuously op- 
posed, to inflict upon Dorr, the punishment, the law of treason pro- 
vided ? When and where, was it, " he deemed an Act for nncondi- 
tional liberation, proper" ? 

The market scene of CESAR " thrice" rejecting the " offered 
Crown," though — " Loath to lay his fingers off if ' — was re-enacted. 

" The rabblement hooted, and clapped their chopped hands, and 
threw up their sweaty night-caps," but, his Excellency, unlike CAE- 
SAR — " swooned not" ! ! I 

W^iterman, Cowell, &c., like ahsoletc and (/«5M5«/ figures, on old 
family paintings, were dimly seen in the rear view, on the tattered, 
faded and dusty canvass of " Sovereignty," writhing with agonized 
nerves at his Excellency's incautious exposure of disgraceful intrigue. 

HIS EXCELLENCY'S SINCERITV TESTED. 

The high regard and personal respect I entertain for Gov. Jackson, 
disarms my pen of the polish of invective, which the abhorrence of 
insincerity innately stimulates. I aim to undeceive my friends, and 
guard them against misplaced confidence. If the attempt inflict pain 
in the bre;ists of those, whose public acts are exposed, most assuredly 
I cannc t be charged with severity. 

His Excellency deemed it proper that the State should p^ass an act 
of unconditional liberation, for the purpose of disposing oi' tlie ques- 
tion forever, and restoring harmony among the people. 

He lent his name to head the ticket of the party, (who had no man 
of sufficient respectability, or who " could command the confidence 
of the people") then, to achieve these admitted and desirable objects. 

These, and sympathy for Dorr, were to be accomplish'^d by all 
necessary means. The degrading and humiliating farce ol re-ac- 
knowledging the Constitution had been enacted. 

Liberation was the next in order. This was to be perfected by a 
change of Governors, and by majorities in either House of the Gene- 
ral Assembly. 

Liberation depended alone upon a joint act of legislation of both 
Houses. The obligation of every elector, who was sincerely in favor 
of liberation to exert his induence in electing members and to vote 
for them himself, who would pass an act to liberate then, was peremp- 
tory. 

An omission to comply with this obligation, where compliance was 
practical, was at least the opposite to good faith and fidelity to <,he ob- 
jects professed. The agreement, also, which had brought tht antag- 
onist parties into communion, created this obligation, and the nomi- 
nation of Gov. Jackson strengthened and enforced it. 

Both wings ofthe coalition, then agreed mutually, to exert all the 
means available, to change the majorities in the legislature. One 
11 



82 

available means was the exercise of each individual's right of suffrage 
in making the change. 

To enforce these obligations, the Convention from ?l prophetic fear , 
or ]usi jcaloiisi/ of his Excellency's and his friend's proffered sincerity 
passed a resolution, of which the following is an extract, viz : 

"Resolved, — That the only issue, is tho unconditional liberation of T. W. 
HoTT^ Tind full restoration to all tho rights of a citizen ; and to effect this ob- 
ject, WE WILL SUPPORT SUCH mcnfor office, as WILL USE THEIR INFLU- 
ENCE /or that purpose." 

There were two classes of officers to be elected, and two distinct 
tickets in each town to be supported. 

The only State Ticket was — " State Liberation Ticket." — This 
was made by the State Convention. The other Tickets were town 
Tickets, made by the freemen of each Town, for Representatives and 
Senators. 

In the State Ticket there was but one vote, which could aid Lib- 
eration ill the Legislature — the Lieutenant Governor. In the city 
of Providence, the Governor's residence, were Tickets for twelve 
Representatives, and one Senator, thirteen in all, which could aid 
Liberation ! 

His Excellency, as he declared in his card " voted only the State 
Liberation Ticket." ! ! 1 

The available means, which were within his control and partially 
exercised, to achieve " Liberation" — "dispose of the question forev- 
er" — " restore harmony among the people," — perform the agreement 
on which his nomination was made, — discharge tlje obligations 
imposed by the resolution of the Convention — manifest his new-born 
sympatliy for his accused convict " for Treason," — prove his great 
sinccriti/ and patriotic ardor for the pledged objects — atone for the 
deo-radation to which he had subjected the Convention and the 
whole party — the insult tipon their honor — the impeachment of their 
allegiance — their classification with conspirators against the Gov- 
ernment were exerted by him then, in the ratio of one, to thirteen ! ! I 
This omission to support Liberation Representatives and Sena- 
tor on whom an act for that purpose alone depended, is certainly a 
modern improvement in the fait Iiful d'xscharge oi solemn obligations 
— in the developement of refined sympathies, and the manifesta- 
tions of unaffected sincerity ! 

The system of moral ethics taught in our Colleges and Semina- 
ries affords us no parallel. Surely it is and must be, a refinement 
upon the abstractions of unadulterated Dorrism, his Excellency had 
just imbibed ! ! ! 

For this discharge of oblijiations, and partial success of his Ex- 
cellency, Dorrites, Dorritc Democrats, and their subsidized presses, 
sunof hosannas to Liberation and the netv Democracy. 

I leave his Excellency, with my best wishes, to enjoy the unal- 
loyed consolations, a retrospect may impart, or an atonement to his 
new friends, may produce 1 

SENATOR SIMMONS— HIS SUMMERSET— OATH OF ALLEGIANCE 
—CAUSE REMOVED. 

Senator Simmons while at Washington, an astute and calculating 
politician, was advised of the state of things at home ; and after the 



83 

adjourr)ment of the Senate, spent a few days there, and was, as 
usual, very courteous to the newly organized authorities. 

The two leading subjects, wliich might become necessary to be 
adroitly used at home, to best promote his purposes, were the T.v- 
uiFF and tiie favorable reception of Dorrism at the Capitol. lie 
was fully aware, that his support of his friend Arnold had aiicnuat- 
ed the thread between himself, nm\ tlir. Law and Order party, and 
might be entirely severed by a false tilt of his friends, in then union 
with the Dorrites. 

He knew, also, that the latter party were destitute of experienced 
managers ; and ascertaining his friend Jackson had lent his name 
at their head, to give them a respectability and acquire for them, a 
confidence of the people, he readily perceived the !tj\v coalition of 
his friends with them, prospected an arena, on which his political 
generalship might be successfully displayed. 

The inducements and feasibilities it offered, to repair the rupture 
of Whiggery and Law and Order, if necessary for his purposes, 
were too alluring, not to be immediately embraced. His respecta- 
ble friend at their head, and he in the rear, could not long fail to 
give them the mastery of the masses^ and the direction of " the sov- 
ereignty.'''' 

I do not say, these views were encouraged in his courtesies at the 
White House and Bureaus, during his sojourn in Washington, af- 
ter the termination of his Senatorial duties. Such an imputation 
would detract from the sagacious foresight I cheerfully award to 
liim. 

On his return, whatever inducements imj)clled him, he avoided 
the pledges, he and his friend Man had voluntarily given, " to sup- 
port Governor Fenner so long as he lived," and his " renewed grat- 
itude to him," for having — " as Chief Magi.«trale, so energetically 
and successfully defended the State" — and " protected his family 
and property, against the torch and laicless assaults of Ur.entious 
Dorrism,''' and without any consultation, with his old friends, who 
had bestowed upon him all his honors, hastily summersetted into 
the hottest ranks of the licentious Dorrites, and became the fiercest 
knight in the struggle against his generous ])atrons. 

He caught the contagion of "pacification and liberation" — and 
his sympathetic impulses for Dorr, like those of his friend Jackson, 
smothered all sympathy for " a suffering community and law vio- 
lated by the high crime of treason ! 

Walpole was mistaken in his proverb — " Every man has his 
price !" The disinterested patriotism of his Excellency Gov. Jack- 
son and Senator Simmons, proves the proverb obsolete ! 

To win the favor of the Dorrites, the first step was to abuse Gov. 
Fenner. Without this. Senator Simmons could not advance his 
schemes, and fasten their affections. 

In his first speech, in an awkward tirade against him, calculated 
to gain the applause of his licentious audience, he unluckily admit- 
ted the pledges and gratitude given and expressed for the Governor. 
He says — 

■' Nothing short of a conflict which threatened my life nnd fajiiili/, 
would have ever induced me to have given my vote for him." 

Conflict with whom ? Why, the very men he was addressing, and 



84 

whose good will he was soliciting ! And to secure that good will, he 
exchims, " I care not for Laio and Order, Fellow-Citizens ; I call 
that Law and Order, which brings men together in fellowship and 
peace." 

The result of his reasoning, then, was, he would support Gov. 
Fenner to fight theDorritti, to save "his life and family," but.wonld 
oppose him, to gain their favors and votes for himself and friend 
Jackson ! 
Yet, " the rabblement" applauded ! ! ! 

Again — he was addressing the new Democracy, who have taken 
fast hold on Texas, since the Greenwich Convention, as one of 
their reasons for obtaining offices from President Polk, and stimula- 
ted them to vote for Jackson against Gov. F. because, the latter had 
by his official infliiencp, endeavored to influence Annexation in the 
Senate of the United States ! ! ! He says : 

" I do know undeniably, he has endeavored to influence this 
question of Annexation in the Senate of the United States — and it 
denied, I will give names." It is well known Gov. F. and my hum- 
ble self, although, we differed, and still difter on some State ques- 
tions, stood almost alone for Texas, in this State for years. I wrote 
also not only to Senators, but Representatives in Congress in favor 
of Annexation. 

Gov. Fenner lost his election by his advocacy of Annexation, by 
the Whig branch of Law and Order party opposed to Texas, with- 
holding tlieir votes from him, as is proved by the success of the resi- 
due of the Ticket he headed. 

Extraordinary as it is, the Dorrites, claiming to be the exclusive 
Democracy, and friends of President Polk, who owes his election 
entirely to the influences of annexation, opposed Gov. Fenner, for 
supporting it, and supported Gov. Jackson, Lemuel H. Arnold, and 
Senator Simmons, who had done as much against them in theirs and 
Dorr's rebellion, because they were opposed to, and would defeat 
Annexation, if they could ! 

If my old democratic friends, can relish such democracy, they 
may. 1 do not, and will not. If they choose to be hoodwinked by 
a set of unprincipled Demogogues, and follow in the wake of the 
corrupt coalition, which now disgraces the State, and endangers a 
wholesome administration of the Laws, be it so so. 

But Senator Simmons, of a sudden, like Gov. Jackson, perceived 
that the degrading act of the Convention, re-acknoiolcdging the ex- 
isting Constitution — and rc-admitting its binding force upon mem- 
bers of the General Assembly, and all other good and peaceable 
citizens, though it classified himself, in his new fellowship of Law 
and Order, with rebels and insurrectionists against it, had removed 
the cause, and therefore, there was no longer any necessity of requir- 
ing Dorr to take the oath of allegiance. 

Is not this a most extraordinary position for a Senator of the Uni- 
ted States ? 

■No man, slandered General Carpenter and the real democratic 
party in March, 1843, for their insincerity in admitting the validity 
of the existing Constitution, by the solemn acts of their Convention, 
and registering under it, than James F. Simmons. 

This acknowledgment was in full force and sanction by the ac- 



85 

quiescence of all, for more thun two years Not a single act of the 
party, had repealed or impaired the declaration of February, li^43, 
except Dorr's Memorial, subscribed by twenty-six legislators. 

That declaration was made before this Memorial, and was, there- 
fore, entitled to higher consideration. 

Of the existence of that declaration, he was fully aware, for he 
quotes its language, and relies upon its sense, to justify his shameful 
apostacy, and his'alliance with men, that had " threatened his life and 
the lives of his family ." 

I do not complain of his apostacy from his own party. What I 
object to is, that such a man, for such a purpose, to appease his Dor- 
rite allies, should use my language and my sentiments in such a hy- 
pocritical cause as he has engaged in. 

Of the existence of this Memorial, Senator Simmons had official^ 
knowledge, for it was before Congress, praying him, as a member of 
the Senate, to subvert the existing Constitution, and to resuscitate 
that of 1841, which, he had, with sword and bludgeon, warred with 
the Dorrites, to overthrow and destroy ! Nay, its attornies, Messrs. 
Burke and John S. Harris, were urging its passage through the 
House, that it might go up to the Senate for Senator Simmons con- 
currence ! 

Yet, he leaves the Senate Chamber — comes home, and in public 
assemblies, and in addresses under his own signature, deliberately 
declares, that Dorr should be liberated, because, the cause being re- 
moved, the necessity of the oath had ceased? 

How removed \ He tells us that, Mr. Jackson had coerced the 
Convention of Freemen, and the whole party, into a degrading re- 
acknowledgment of the existing Constitution, and Dorr had admit- 
ted its validity before he went to prison, and therefore, it was ac- 
knowledged by all. 

This position docs great discredit to my friend Senator Simmons. 
It is evasive, un?nanli/ and derogatory to the high and responsible 
station he occupies ! The Memorial bears date, February 1, 1844^ 
long after Dorr went to prison, and was drawn up in prison. 

Admit, then, that he acknowledged it, before he went to prison,, 
his petition to subvert it was an after act, and a denial of muck 
greater solemnity, than his mere verbal acknowledgment. Yet, our 
grave Senator of the dignified Senate of this immense union, for the 
paltry purpose of accomplishing his political schemes, tells us, ths 
cause being removed, the necessity of the oath has ceased ! ! 
In his address to Henry B. Anthony, Esq., he says : 
" The supporters of Governor Fenner have passed an act for the 
liberation of Mr, Dorr, upon condition that he shall first take an 
oath to support the existing Constitution. . . . although, in private 
conversation, he acknowledged [it] binding, before he went to pris- 
on In order to effect liberation, and save the honor of the 

State — Mr. Jackson has proposed, as a previous condition to his ad- 
vocating liberation without an oath, that the party in an authoritative 
and imposing form, shall acknowledge — that the existing Constitu- 
tion is binding upon them as citizens, and upon the whole people of 
the State — the same acknowledgment having been made by Mr. Dorr 
before he tve7it to prison, the validity of the instrument is acknowl- 
edged by all. There is no dispute about it — and therefore, the ne- 



86 

cessily of the oath has ceased, by removing the cause that produced 
it. Much credit is, therefore, due to the representatives of that 
body, for ' magnanimously relinquishing' — this dangerous doctrine, 
in order that quiet and security may be restored to the community." 

The noble Senator goes the full length of his bow, and assumes — 
that this humiliating act passed by a body, delegated with no power 
to re-acknowledge it for themselves, much less for their constituents, 
is an acknowledgment of the whole people ! Was it any more so, 
thin that in February, 1843? Was the mode or solemnity of the 
act in a more authoritative or imposing form 1 

In the opinion of Mr. Senator, it seems it was. That in February 
1843, was proposed and adopted voluntarily, and from a tense nf 
solemn duty by the party, to obviate the heresies, which Dorr had 
fixed upon them, — but, this was proposed and forced upon the Con- 
vention, by Mr. Jackson, to induce him to cover his inglorious re- 
treat from his party — and to advocate Liberation ! 

Is there such a farce extant, in wliich men, pretending to ordinary 
honesty and fidelity of purpose, have ever before participated ? 

Was this treasonable Memorial against the existing Constitution, 
withdrawn from Congress, when Senator Simmons deliberately 
wrote his address to Mr. Anthony? Is it not now on file, among the 
unfinished business of last session, waiting the action of Congress 
upon it ? Is not Mr. Burke, at this moment, urging, by the accum- 
iiiulating influences of the Patent Office, fiirther action upon it to 
veil the odium of presenting and incautiously ensnaring Congress 
into its consideration ? 

Look into the memorial for a moment, and test the sincerity of tlie 
Senator's position. 

What avails Dorr's private acknowledgment before he went to 
prison? Wiiat avails the re-acknowledgment of the Convention, 
the whole party, and the whole people ? 

Gracious Heaven ! have the delusions, the heresies, the acts of trea- 
son against ihe Constitutions of the State and Union, the threatened 
scenes of our streets engored with the blood of our fathers, our broth- 
ers, our children, our own fellow citizen;, " knee deep"* to gratify 
the insatiable and sanguinary propensities of a visionary theorist, so 
tainted the seats of moral rectitude, so poisoned the sources of pub- 
lic virtue, so contaminated the Halls of legislation, that grave Sena- 
tor.s, Governors and all, must stoop at the sacreligious altar of avoid- 
ed Dorrism? 

My own feelings at the recollection of the past, hurry me into ex- 
cesses, at the horrors we have escaped, by the timely interposition of 
the (Tuarantee of the National Constitution, which visionary Dorr, 
resisted as an " unlawful invasion of the State." 

Had the cause of the oath beeri removed? Had the necessity 
ceased ? Had Dorr and his twenty six conspirators against the ex- 
isting Constitution, laid down their weapons against it? Had the 
party, the whole people, the convention in whiph some of the memo- 
rialists were members, withdrawn their opposition? Was the unoffi- 
cial act of re-acknowiedgment, an authoritative and imposing form, 
binding upon all ? 

* See Dorrite Rcsolutione. 



87 

Let us see. In that fatal document, at which every man, who re- 
gards the permanancy of our civil institutions, and the sanctity of 
constitutional compacts, must revolt with indignant feelings of patri- 
otism, are the following words, from the pen of him, that imprints 
upon the parchment it soils, some dangerous heresy, viz : 

" The undersigned desire to make their solemn protest, against 
the course pursued by the President of the United States— to trample 
upon the rights of our citizens, maintain martial law over the people 
in deregation of all law, to impose on the people while thus under du- 
ress, another constitution, unjust, restrictive, and aiiti republican, 
adopted by less than one third of the adult male citizens. Thomas 
W. Dorr, elected Governor under the People's Constitution, has been 
kept in Prison for more than three months, for attempting to main- 
tain according to his oath of oflke, that Constitution, and for carry- 
ing out the doctrines of the Declaration of American Independence." 
Affain : " The undersigned, in view of the facts now stated, and 
IN BEHALF OF THEIR FELLOW CITIZENS, therefore re- 
spectfully,request the House of Representatives, &-c. — to execute 
the guarantee in the National Constitution, in favor of the Constitu- 
tion of 1841." 

This is its language, this its import. The grant of its prayer sub- 
verted, annulled, overthrew the existing Constitution, which Senetor 
Simmons principally made, in the State Convention, and when it was 
adopted by that body, in a speech on the occasion, which I then 
thought was sincere, " he pathetically thanked his creator, for his su- 
perintending goodness in dispensing wisdom over its deliberations, 
and declared that if it should be adopted by the people, we ought and 
should have a public thanksgiving, prayer and rejoicing for the 
event." 

Mark the issue. Instead of being adopted, under Martial Law 
of the United States, as the memorial states, the people in their prop- 
er and legitimate capacity adopted it, and put it into execution by 
their free and voluntary fiat. Yet, with this memorial, purporting to 
be in behalf of the very party, which his friend Jackson had disgra- 
ced and dishonored by his resolution, and pending before Congress 
for his concurrence in its prayer. Senator Simmons tells us, the 
cause of the oath being removed, its necessity has ceased ! ! ! 

His new born sympathy for the imprisoned, shamed the words from 
his lips, and convicted hmi of deliberate falsehood! While he was 
deceiving his new " Law and Order Fellov.ship," by enforcing the 
great injustice of the oath, and averring there was no longer, any 
necessity for it. Dorr and Olney Ballon, were urging Congress to 
overturn the Constitution — because, it is " unjust — restrictive — anti- 
republican" — and void — because, " it was adopted under duress." 

Nor is this all. While he was applauding the Convention, and 
seven thousand Freemen of the State who were not opposing it, for 
havmg classed themselves, with "OUTLAWS IN THE MIDST 
OF FREEMEN," his new sympathy was indignant, at the thought 
of degradation the taking of the oath, would subject Dorr to, who 
was in open rebellion to it. 

He exclaims, " But this act (Amnesty) in my judgment placed 
Mr. Dorr, in an unfortunate position. It made him an outlaw in. 

THE MIDST OF FeEEMEN." 



88 

Any more eoj Mr. Senator, tlian Jackson's resolution did seven 
thousand of his constituents? Oh shame ! ! ! 

Shade of Burrill ! — re-visit the Senate Chamber ! and, in the 
■sepulchral — "list — list — oh list! "Royal Dane" — admonish our 
Senator, to observe, " the omens in his country's cause" ! 

PKOSPECtlVE VIEW OF THE FIELD— CONDITION SECOND OF 
THE SECOND PARTY— CONVERTIBLE LEGISLATURE— THE 
VOTES— CONFIRMATION ! 

Under the reserved rights of the compact, Senator Simmons was 
at liberty to append such conditions to his accession, as the schemes 
he should devise, required. His position as Senator in the United 
States was ominous. No appointments of officers for the State were 
yet made. They were yet in abeyance. The Senate had ;.djourn- 
ed. All appointments requiring the consent and confirmation of the 
State, would be made in the interim, and remain to the next, the 
present session of Congress iw confirmation. 

His own term of office expired, March, 4, 1847. The legislature 
on whom a new choice would devolve, would be electable in April, 
1846. His alliance with the old Law and Order party, like his 
friends Jackson's and Arnold's, was disrupted. 

His Excellency, from the social and creditable circles, in which 
his habits and education distinguished him as a valued friend and 
agreeable companion, by not resolving, upon a second " retirement" 
had taken a Irap into opposite circles, whose uncontrolled notions of 
Sovereignty, had made them convertible instruments of self destruc- 
tion. 

Senator Simmons with an eagle eye, surveyed the field of future 
operations. 

He knew the masses were easily excited, and cOuId be formed in- 
to any position, skilful commanders might direct. The time to be- 
gin the drill was apt, to perfect their discipHne; M'hen the forces 
should be wanted. 

The Dorrites were organized into a monnpoly of ojfice-scckers and 
office-makers. Waterman, &c. were navigating tiieir craft into its 
port, by the guiding star of Old Warwick light. Their leaders had 
been at Washington, and beseiged the new authorities. Their claims 
were received favorably. Their appointments were probable. Their 
confirmations were distant — and to be made in future. The coali- 
tion with them was completed, by tiie accession of the Senator's 
friends. 

Unconditional Liberation was the ])revailing watch-word, and the 
choril that vibrated. Senator Sinmions would not have been him- 
self, not to have seen these powerfid combinations, and felt how 
closely they were connected with the station he filled. His imme- 
diate junction with the coalition would bring him into fellowships, 
he is so well calculated to lead, and the services he could render, 
would be the bond to command observances and secure support A 
convertible Legislature to his own purposes, he knew, by long ex- 
perience was practicable. 

These reciprocal considerations offered alternate advances and 
enforced alternate obligations. They were reciprocally embraced, 
and liberation for votes, and confirmation for offices, animated the 



89 

alternate partief? to the compact. Such a Legislature was attempt- 
ed to be secured ia the last April election. In many of the towns, 
by the permission of S. F. Man, &c. the name of Jackson was sub- 
stituted for Fenner's on the Law and Order State Ticket, and Whio; 
Tickets for Senators and Representatives, opposed to unconditional 
Liberation, were sustained and supported by the friends of Jackson, 
in preference to the nominees of the party, notc/ithstandinj^ the re- 
solution of the Convention, and the solemn pledge for Liberation. 
Thus, Liberation induced union of action for Governor, while a dif- 
ferent policy prevailed for the election of a Legislature, on which, it 
alone depended. 

ARNOLD ELECTED— POTTER DEFEATED— CONDITION THIRD. 
The Western Congressional District Convention, in which the 
old school Democracy was predominant, made no nomination. Mr. 
John R. Waterman nominated Lemuel H. Arnold, in place of Mr. 
Potter, though tiwee weeks before, he acted with the old Democrats 
of his county, in originating the Greenwich Convention. He Avas 
not sustained, and the people were left to vote for whom they chose. 

Yet, in violation of all democratic usage, this third condition of 
the compact was required to be complied with. The coalition of 
the district subsequently put Arnold in nomination, and commanded 
the rank and file to support him. 

During the canvass, while the Dorritcs were exerting all their ef- 
forts for Gov. Jackson — Arnold and liberation, IMr. Arnold, the com- 
missioned and wilhng agent to obtain his accused Traitor Dorr, from 
Gov. Hubbard, was exuking in his opposition to the party, which 
had elected Mv. Polk, and to the liberation ic'dhout the oath. 

Democrats and Dorrites under these strong delusions, rushed to 
the polls and supported Mr. Arnold, a violent Whig — an antagonist 
to Texas — Oregon — an ultra high Tarifiite — a Bankite — an as- 
sumptionists — and who was for the hottest and most prescriptive 
measures against Dorr and his party — and osposcd Mr. Potter, 
who, from the beginning, after the termination of the troubles, was 
for a general amnesty,- — friendly to annexation — for Oregon entire — 
a moderate Tariff — against a Bank and assumption, and barelv 
elected Arnold to Congress, and Jackson for Governor. 

The result is, Democrats and Dorrites, under the disguise and 
pretext of Messrs. Waterman, «&c. for liberation, and for dividing 
and abrupting old " Law and Order," by their own follies, and to 
secure confirmation, fell into Senator Simmons' new " Law and Or- 
der, which brings men into fellowships." 

THE SUCCESS-ITS EFFECTS— ITS INFLUENCES— DORR RELEA- 
SED— DIFFERENCE OF AMNESTY OF FEBRUARY AND JUNE. 

His Excellency Charles Jackson in the Chair, Hon. Lemuel H. 
Arnold in Congress. 

The old colleagues are again united, and placed in a situation 
by the aid of the new Democracy of the State, where they may- 
mature any legislative schemes upon the treasuries of the State, 
or United States, as they please. 

Gov. Jackson, under the circumstances of his election, brought 
into the Legislature, little or no influence ; although his talents, and 
former relations with his fellow men, entitled him, to high considera- 
tions. 1*2 



90 

The vriley echemist, Senator Simmons' new " Law and Order," 
thounh it fellowships strange companions, imparts but little influence. 
The difterence between the amnesty acts of February and June, 
is deserving of notice. By the former, the oath anteceded Libera- 
tion, and restored the imprisoned to his full civil rights. The two 
great objects, the Convention nominating Jackson, enjoined upon 
all, ''to use their inflwnce to achieve!" Yet this was not ac- 
cepted. By the latter, Liberation aH^ecec/eri the oath, ai\i\ postjwncd 
restoration. 

This act stopt at the half way house ! Restoration was made de- 
pendant upon taking the oath in future. This is readily accepted. 
Dorr is liberated; not restored. 

The very position, Senator Sinimons, in the warmth of his new 
zeal for him and indignation at the oath, so vehemently deprecated 
in his first speech, viz : " God forbid that any man should be asked 
to walk among us without the protection of the Laws." 

No act of the Dorites has ever had any tendency to effect Libera- 
tion or commutation of his punishment. The policy and pacific 
measures which, we, of the old school democracy, have pursued, in- 
duced conciliation, and laid the foundation for his relief Our course 
required no re-acknowledgment of the Constitution. 

The Law and Order Party, held the majorities in both Houses, 
and I am assured by the highest authority, would have released Dorr, 
at the May Session, uj)on the same condition they did in June, if it 
had not been for the menacing conduct of his friends, and intemper- 
ate language of their subsidized press. 

Neither the election of Governor, nor of Arnold, nor any influ- 
ences of Man or Simmons, procured, facilitated or affected the result, 
otherwise than they might have postponed it until June, 

Yet, they claim it as a result of their influence. I give them eith- 
er horn of the dilemma, this claim presents, they choose ! If it were 
the result of their influences, its impeaches their integrity, and proves 
they have played falsely, to their own professions — to Dorr, and to 
the party that elected his Excellency and Arnold. For the influ- 
ence that procured liberation, could also have procured restoration. 
The omission of this, prostrates all their pretences, that liberation 
was effected by their influences, and convicts them of gross infidelity 
to the two great objects, which Gov. Jackson's nomination was de- 
signed to achieve. 

THE REAL CAUSE— RESTORATION-- THE BOND— THE TALIS- 
MAN FOR NEXT ELECTION— CONDITION OF THE PARTY. 

Tiie secret of whatever influences the Whig wing of the new 
" Law and Order Fellowship," did exert, while it exposes in reflec- 
ting rays, the insincerity of their high regard for pacification and 
liberation, administers to the new Democracy, some salutary lessons 
which may teach them to avoid " insidious coalitions'^ in future, and 
hasten them back to the old democratic platform. 

The convertible and flexible character of the majorities in both 
Houses, to be elected in April next, on which devolves the choice of 
the United States Senator, solves all mystery : — explains the hasty 
love for Dorrite Democracy — the holy ardor for tranquillity, and the 
fervent devotion for liberation without jiie oath ! 

Votes on the one hand, and confiumation on the other, filled 



01 

the blanks in tlic Bond. These apparently reciprocal obligation* 
were eagerly embraced. Yet, while they obligate the ori'icc-iioL- 
r>KRs to servitude and expenditures from their salaries, they leave 
the obligees ;it their own will and pleasure. Tt is a most apt illustra- 
tion of his E.xccllency's rc-a< Iniowlcdging rcMilution, and Senator 
Simmons, "Law and Order, which brings men into Fellowship." 

An act of unconditional liberation would have discharged these 
obligations, and cancelled the seals of the instrument. Liberation, 

first: — RESTORATION sccoud ! Election first: — confirmation 

echo, where ? If infiuences claimed, induced liberation, why was 
RESTORATION reserved ? The power to achieve the one, could 
superinduce the other. The bond is of rare character. Its osten- 
sible objects were, to liberate and restore Dorr, and yet, (mark these 
words) it ij susceptible of proof, that, both the obligors and obligees 
of this contract, have publicly expressed, that his release, with res- 
toration, would annihilate tlie party. * * * 

And this is the sincerity of its leaders, and the source of their 
pretended sympathies! 

The half way Amnesty of June, of which Dorr av;iiled and turn- 
ed himself, as his friend Siumions says, into "an outlaw in the midst 
of freemen," was passed by the old Law and Order majorities of the 
Legislature, without remonstrance by the Whig wing of the coalition, 
and with reluctance by Senator Ballou, &c., while Senator Sim- 
mons, and his friends, were merrily enjoying the embracing sea 
breeze under the piazzas of the Ocean House ! 

Has the disinterested Senator, at any time, advised Dorr not to 
avail himself of this Amnesty, and voluntarily to make himself a 
"walking outlaw,''' which he had invoked, his " God to forbid," in 
his old Market House speech? I pause, and ask the new Demo- 
craci/, for a reply. 

Reserved Restoration, is the chord, by which the majorities of 
both Houses, are to be secured, in the approaching April election, 
and to be led and controlled in filling the intervening vacancy, in the 
Senate of the United States. 

As liberation, last year, concentrated the energies, not "the 'fail- 
ure of arms," of the coalition, so, reserved restoration is to be the 
talisman for action in April next. 

Gratitude, if they have any, to Gov. Jackson, for the monstrous 
sacrifices he has made ; — the wonderful similitude of their newly im- 
bibed democracy with Messrs. Arnold, Man, &-c — the rod of confir- 
mation, which Senator Simmons holds over them, compel the Dorr 
office-holders to su[)port his Excellency again, and to use their influ- 
ences to elect such representatives and senators, in the difierent 
towns, as the wants of those gentlemen, shall select and require. ' 

This accomplished — the otlicers confirmed or not — the vacancy in 
the United States Senate filled — pacification — liberation — restoration 
— will have been restored and perfected. 

My old friends Waterman and Cowell, will have to draw a new 
bond of union, with the already announced new issue, of obtaining a 
Supreme Court of the State, of sufiicient dignity^ before whom Dorr 
can appear and take the oath ! 

Thus, has the assumed Democracy of the State, to enable specu- 
lating politicians, and a posse of officers in whom, no party has anv 



92 

confidence, been seduced into one of the most dangerous and mco- 
Jiesive coalitions, that ever disgraced tlie State, and left to seek con- 
solation in the contempt and ridicule their own follies have involved 
them. 

DEMOCRACY IMMOLATED LAST YEAR— ITS FUNERAL CERE- 
MONIES THIS YEAR. 

As a portion of the old and jjenerous hearted Democracy, through 
its iiiisguided sympatiiies for Dorr, was immolated, last year, on the 
unhallowed altar of Demagogueism, and Liberation — its funeral 
rites are to be celebrated the present, under the banners of restora- 
tion and Confirmation. , 

The two harmonizing Champions of this unparrelleled intrigue, 
Messrs. Waterman and Simmons, by their agents at Kingston, in 
October last, arranged the plan of future action to engulph the rem- 
nant of Democracy. 

The pall-bearers are already selected and announced. Democra- 
cy, degraded and transferred to disrupted Whigism and Dorrism, is 
invited to follow in the mournful pageantry, like relatives disinherited 
from the bounty and nmnificence of the " remains" they help to en- 
tomb. 

NEW ISSUES OF THE COALITION. 

At the moment the Treasury and the School Fund, alike exhaust- 
ed by drafts upon them, to protect the citizens against, and to quell 
the lawless outrages of the very party he now heads, require^all 
; vailable resources. His Excellency to secure, eitiier the tempora- 
ry support, or to relieve the necessitous masses from the registry tax, 
which no doubt, would draw them into stronger fellowship with him 
and his allies, gravely proposes to alter the Constitution — he coer- 
ced the party to re-acknowledge, and rescind this provision, which 
Senator Simmons devised on purpose to restrict Suffrage and pro- 
vide a revenue to the School Fund. The Dorr leaders offended at 
the decisions of our Courts of Justice, are struggling for the mastery 
to elevate themselves upon the Judicial Benches. 

These are the entertainments to which, the opposite and yet coal- 
esced factions, are inviting the yeomanry and good citizens of the 
State. 

THE DANGERS IMPENDING— BALLOT IN THE JURY ROOM. 

Dorr is abroad, according to Senator Simmons, a voluntary — 
walking " outlaw," and, with his mischievous pen, disseminating his 
dangerous heresies, and stirring the slumbering ashes of agitation, 
for revenge, against the constituted authorities of the State. 

Else, why not take the oath, as his whole party was compelled to 
do, to induce his Excellency to advocate his liberation 1 

Designing men have, for no good purpose, joined his standard, 
and are, at this moment, secretly engaged to accomplish and perfect 
iheir purposes. 

Dorrism in the field, the moment, it transcended legitimate State 
sovereignty, or arrayed itself in battle array, against the lawful inter- 
position of the national f^uthorities, could be seen and easily over- 
come. But, in secret, by the aid of accomplices, it insidiously 



9S 

worms itself into the halls of our le^^islatioii — poisons their councils 
— and seduces their members from their allegiance. In secrecy, it 
invades the secrecy and purity of Jury rooms, and converts "juries 
sworn," into sectional and political cabals. An instance of which, 
occurred during the November sitting of the Circuit Court, in this 
city, as related by one of the Jury, under circumstances of unwar- 
ranted assurances.* 

In secret, under the assumed mask of exclusive Democracy, it is 
organizing factions — stimulating unwholesome aspirations for power 
and distinction, and propagating theories, which tend only to gratify 
the worst propensities of our natures — and to satiate unmitigated 
impulses of revenge. 

Our Legislative halls, our judicial forums, our offices of State are 
not safe from its pervading delusions, nor its insidious encroach- 
ments. Dorrism s not Democracy. 

ITS RELATIONS ABROAD AND WITH THE ADMINISTRATION, 
DANGEROUS PRECEDENTS- 

By secreting his compacts for foreign aid, without permission of 
the National Government to engage in War with its authorities, and 
assuming the disguised and innocent position of "asserting the rights 
of the people," Dorr besfuiled himself into the favor of generous De- 
mocracy abroad. His party at home, as results prove, to subserve 
their own selfish purposes, after they recovered from an utter over- 
throw, rekindled agitation and attuned the chords of sympathy. 

His voluntary return and consequent imprisonment, under the ftd 
lacious opinions he had propagated, increased delusions to an extent 
of which no parallel in history can be found. By a fortunate junc- 
tion with the Presidential canvass, designing partisans seized the ad- 
vantages, these extraneous sympathies imparted, and carried them in- 
to the election. 

Thus, was Dorrism, all its errors and atrocities — its open and avow- 
ed infractions of the National Constitution — its transcending State 
Sovereicrnty, contemning the National Guarantees to settle its con- 
troversies, and its bold assumptions of the powers of Congress, by 
interposing and intermeddling dignitaries from New-Hampshire and 
Massachusetts, imposed upon the new Democratic administration of 
the country. 

It was one of those fanatical and erroneous fallacies, which often 
seize the freaks of unsteady and unlettered intellects, and like pesti- 
lential contagions spread their influences in spite of healing prevent- 
ives or the aduionitions of reason. 

The Administration, by its patronage of the Devotees of Dorrism, 
in Rhode Island under the circumstances developed in the preceding 
pages, have, I fear, incautiously set an example of the most danger- 
ous precedents to the permanency of our civil institutions. The ap- 

*Richard Knij^ht, Esq., one of the Jury, who were out all night, iirpannel- 
ed on a case in wiiich one of the DeWolfs, of Bristol, was a party, involving 
no political question, and of which Senator Olney Ballon, was Foreman, 
slated, as a strange procedure, that Olney Ballou proposed a ballot to ascertain 
the politic-"! views of the Jury, which was taken, and the result was, seven 
Whigs, and five Dorrit.s, and that, during the night, Ballou, and the Marshal 
of the District, not the sworn keeper, had interviews with each other. 



94 

pointments to oflke in this State, with five honorable exceptions, all 
ot whom had my huinhle letters of recommendation, meets the gen- 
eral disapprobation of iionorable and high minded men of all parties. 
They are rewards of insubordination, encouragements to insurrect- 
ionists, precedents for violators of the National Constitution, and 
invitations for the annihilation of regulated freedom. 

MY OWN RELATIONS WITH THE NEW ADMINISTRATION. 
TUl. U.NCLE and NEPHEW. 

In January and February, 1845, Dorrism, as I have shown, had 
created a monopoly for all the offices within the gift of the new Ad- 
ministration. Every effort, by forestalling the signatures of influen- 
tial Democrats, was exerted to secure their acquisition. 

Cliques in the City of Providence, composed of the most obnoxious 
devotees of Dorrism, embracing office-seekers of every grade, were 
formed and claimed exclusive possession. 

Hon. Olney Ballou, by an accidental position in the Legislature, 
which the old Democratic party of Cumberland were never able to 
confer, became a conspicuous participant in the infuriated paroxysms 
the " spoils" engendered. The sequel developed his devotion to 
Dorrism and his aid to the Cliques. His nephew, Y/elcome B. 
Sayles, Esq. who, from my partial acquaintance with him, impresses 
me favorably, was his candidate for the Post-nfiice in this city. On 
enquiry, 1 found that the only services which his nephew had ever 
rendered any party, were the discharging the two ilay's duties of 
Speaker, in Dorr's Foundry Legislature, and performing some en- 
terprises in his war, with his fellow citizens. 

To secure this office for his nephew, the Hon. Senator, having at 
the same time seduced his legislative associates to sign Dorr's memo- 
rial, assumed high ground, and became the head and the dictator of 
the monopoly. How the spoils of the office are shared by the uncle 
and nephew, I know not. The alternative left for old Democrats, 
was to seek its alliances or submit to its exclusions. I preferred the 
latter, and adhered to Democracy. 

Such was the imjiosing attitude of this monopoly, that my old 
friend.s. Waterman, Pearce, Thurston, &c. who had objects in view 
that needed its co-operation to achic\e, joined it and tliere was not 
a man, who either wrote or went to Washington, who had the forti- 
tude or frankness to ac<juaint the President, of the real situation of our 
State affairs, or to disabuse his mind of the frauds about to be impos- 
ed upon him. 

In this crisis, I originated committees of the old Democracy in the 
different counties, with the concurrence of Pearce, whose fidelity I 
thought I had secured, by exacting his signature to a document now 
in my possession, for the purpose of : .;:i iritatively disabusing the 
President against the impositions of the monopoly. 

To accomplish his otlier purposes in Newport, he slichxl into the 
scale of the very Dorrite CLIQUE in this city, and forfeited the 
confidence wiiich, his old Democratic friends had generously confi- 
ded to him. 

As I had opposed and reproved uniformily, what I deemed to be 
the errors of Dorrism, I felt it a duty as a Democrat of the old .Tef- 
fersonian school, as I did with the venerated Jackson, to put into the 



95 

possession of President Polk, a statement of faclj from which, the 
impolicy and dangerous precedent, of appointing men to the jjublic 
offices, who had no other chiims, tlian an open resistance to the laws 
and Constitution of their country, might be avoided, and to put him 
upon his guard against the deceptions of tlie office-seekers, and the 
artifices of Pcarce. 

Disregarding all consequences to myself, I drew up such a state- 
ment on the 17th of February, 1845, and transmitted it to the Presi- 
dent, of which the following is an extract, viz : — Q;;^^ "Our party 
in this State, is unhappily divided, between the nctcly pledged race 
of Democrats, and the old substantial Republicans, who have stood 
the peltings of the political elements, for the last forty years. The 
unfortunate events of the laic Rhode Island dilficulties have made 
strong and unfavorable impressions on the public mind in this State, 
(much more so than abroad, where they were less felt and under- 
stood,) against the participants therein ; and their fatal consequences 
upon the quiet and repose of our citizens are still felt with deep 
concern and much anxiety. To remove and overcome these im- 
pressions retjuires time, moderation, argument and conciliation. It 
will be readily perceived, that any policy or measures, calculated or 
tending to involve the Executive of the Union, into this State ivar- 
fare, by elevating to high and responsible offices those, loho rendered 
themselves most conspicuous and obnoxious in the late insurrectionary 
movements, should be studiously avoided, otherwise, the administra- 
tion of the Government may become unintentionally the instrument, 
o{ fostering the bitter animosities now subsisting, instead of f//scwun- 
tenancing examples of insubordination^ ^J^ 

I thought this a wholesome and democratic doctrine then, and 
think so still. Then, as always, I stooped not, either to Dorrism, 
nor, to the appointing powers, to acquire by inglorious means, office 
or favor. 

The document throughout reproves the degrading efforts of the 
despicable clique, to deceive the President, and chastises with sever- 
ity, the sycophancy of the worshippers of povver. 

POST OFFICE. 

My old Democratic friends throughout the State, among whom 
first, J. R. Waterman, C. Spencer, S. Weatherhead, Asa Gray, dtc, 
were urgent for me to have the Post Office, as a matter of right for 
services long rendered. 

I was not an applicant, though I had the voluntary recommenda- 
tions of many of my old friends. About the '20lh of March by ur- 
gent request, I visited Washington, not even carrying the recom- 
mendations now in my possession with me, and for the first time, 
laid my claims before the President, in writing, under date of March 
24th, 1845. On my arrival there, I found Dorrism the guiding star 
from the presiding geniuses of the A'avy and the Patent depart- 
ments, upward. 

Again, I was placed in a situation either to bow submissively to 
Dorrism, or to maintain my integrity to the kiritimate Democracy. 

1 xoavered not at the alternative presented — but, with the same ad- 
herence to my principles and measures, I advised the President of 
my position, in a iihort statement of facts, at his request, put into 



96 

his hands on that day by myself, of which the following are extracts, 
viz : 

05^ " Nor, Sir, do I come now a craving applicant, with a set of 
credentials from any classes, calculated in a majority of cases, to in- 
flict, rather than, to prevent impositions upon the dispensing pow- 
ers. 

I come more, at the request of friends, who co-operated with me 
and all, in achieving the election of the Executive of the Union, to 
represent my claims to that office, and to vindicate ourselves from 
any wrong impressions, which I am induced to believe, have been 
attempted to be made by those, who have dissented from my course 
and policy, we have endeavored to pursue and carry out in Rhode 
Island. Indeed, my position has been hitherto, one to recommend 
others, rather than be recommended by others. ... . . 

Notwithstanding all this, my motives have been misrepresented, and 
my efforts opposed, by a portion of our party, who seemed deter- 
mined to dissent from this course of policy. However successful 
the opposition to me may have been, or may be, it is now the pride 
of my life, to reflect and perceive, that my policy and admonitions 
have done as much, if not more, to produce a better state of feel- 
ings, and to soften and change the bitterness of public opinion in 
that Slate, in favor of the liberation of Dorr, than all the acts and 
warm professions of his more ardent friends, who have, as I consi- 
der, so ungenerously opposed and misrepresented me."c^][) 

Fellow-Citizens, examine my acts — my policy — the measures I 
have advised — all my resolutions — my preference for the ballot-box 
to the sword and forcible measures — my attachment to the Consti- 
tution and civil institutions of our country — my reproofs of errring 
Dorrism — my advice to Dorr to appeal to the guarantee in the Na- 
tional Constitution, to establish his Constitution — my advice to the 
members of his own liCgisIature, not to listen to and sanction his 
attack upon the public property, — my warnings to all to shun the 
forbidden conflict with the authorities of the National Government, 
which would have convicted all of you of treason — my uniform and 
steady course in opposition to the interference of Dorr, with the de- 
liberations of our Conventions — my admonitions to shun all " insid- 
ious coalitions" — my unyielding course with the administration, on 
whom the Post Office depended — examine all my writings — all my 
votes — the whole course of my proceedings, and if you find I have 
been or am now hn opponent of the great Democratic measures, you 
cherish — or am now an enemy to Democracy — denounce and dis- 
card me as an apostate ! All I ask of my Fellow-Citizens, Dorrites 
and all, to read my feeble attempts to instruct them, and to form their 
-own conclusions. 

With their " sober second thought," I leave the issue. 
Throughout the scenes I have described, my aim has been to pre- 
serve the integrity of the legitimate Democracy, from the heresies 
and taints of erring Dorrism — to maintain State Sovereignty as far 
as the grants of power and agreement of the people warrant — to re- 
prove with frankness my young friend, who now, even while I am 
exposing the atrocities, which have made him a walking " Outlaw" 
amidst freemen — an outcast from the circle?, his education and fam- 
ily relations befitted — saved him, through a generous regard from an 



97 

inglorious expulsion from liis seat in llie Legislature, because, he uas 
not a freeiinin, assails lue, tlirougli tlie columns ot" my old favorite 
organ, the Herald, with a vituperative venom, and a revolting unman- 
liness, which can only be justified, by a diseased intellect and san- 
guinary heart. 

I devised apian of organization, by which a judicious policy and 
moderate measures would have restored Democracy, tranquillity and 
repose to tiie State, long since. But the arrogant assumptions and 
destructive counsels, Dorr controlled and directed, impeded its execu- 
tion and defeated its success. 

Omnipotence, or ruin, are his monitors. Jealousies and errors 
are the companions of his heart and head. Defeat upon defeat are 
the results of his enterprizes. Every measure he lias devised and 
controlled has failed, either from " the desertions of his friends," or, 
by the timely interposition of the bayonet. In whatever tribunal, or 
judicious assemblage of his fellow citizens, Dorrism, as contradis- 
tinguished from Democracy, has unfurled its banner — it has been 
" avoided and deserted," condemned and reproved, as soon as under- 
stood. 

The measures, which the old Democratic party, to which I belong, 
proposed, were peaceful and conservative. We have uniformily 
sustained and acted with the Democracy of the Union, in preference 
to measures of a local character or of individuality. The charge of 
supporting Federalism, or Whiggism, corrupt and dangerous coalit- 
ions, or insubordination, lies not against us. Yet, because, I led the 
van against, and abjured all connection, with the unholy and despica- 
ble union of disrupted Whiggery and Dorrism, possessing no princi- 
ples in common with those, we cherish and entertain — I am charo-ed 
by those whose " censures are praises" with deserting Democracy ! 

Our motives are assailed — our acts perverted — our political rela- 
tions questioned by a class, assuming tlie exclusive democracy, who 
have scarcely cast off their swaddling aprons of Whiggism — and 
who have attained to no notoriety, other than their crimes and the 
odium of their fellow-citizens, confer. 

With such Democracy, and with such god-fathers, it affords mo 
the highest consolation, I have no fellowship or union. 'J'he time is 
not far distant, when the worthy and better portion of the Dorrite 
party, will revolt from their weak and corrupt leaders, and unite with 
their old Democratic friends, in honorable and pacific efforts, to heal 
the breaches in society, and the repose of the State, which infuriated 
and misguided Dorrism has made. 

Reason and reflection already begin to dispel the mists, which 
have misled them, and enable tiiem to perceive the dangers, they 
have escaped, by their fellow-citizens withdrawing their support 
from the evil genius, who would have engulphed all, in general ruin 
and crime, by the impetuous imputes of an indomitable will. 

If my efforts shall tend in any way to enlighten them, to eschew 
their errors — and hhun in future, the hazardous precipices, their blind 
fanaticism have hurried them on to — I shall feel compensated. 

But unless the management of their political afiairs, is wrested 
from the destructive counsels of Dorrism, and committed to other 
and safer hands, than the miserable dynasty, which have assumed 
13 



98 

and usurped their coutrol : Democracy in Rhode Island must re- 
mafin inevitably a degraded and hopeless minority. 

jFcUow-citizais : — This is probably the last time I shall ever ad- 
dress you, or, ever again mingle in your counsels. Eut to you 
— who have thought and acted with me, throuiih the raelanchol- 
ly scenes we have ])assed — you, — who are entering upon the thea- 
tre of busy life : You — who would avoid in future, the dangers 
and heavy penalties of violated law and infracted Constitutions — 
You — who would repel the heresies, you have erroneously imbibed, 
by a mistaken attachment to a vain and Jlatfcred adventurer: you— 
who desire the repose of the State — ^the protection of law — the safe- 
ty of your hearths — the undisturbed pursuit of happiness — the rescue 
of Democracy, from the degradation to which, the corrupt, inefficient 
counsels, and uncontrolled ambition of those, in whose political in- 
tegrity, you have neither conlidence nor safety, have subjected you, 
— I appeal ! — I exhort you — to put off the phrcnzy that has over- 
powered your reason — excited your passions — stimulated the impul- 
ses of your baser propensities — and led you into excesses, which the 
restraints of your Constitution forbid and prohibit — to reform by the 
lessons, experience has taught — to seek and promote legulated free- 
dom — to purge your minds of all visionary theories — to resume the 
democratic standard, and expel from its ranks, Demagogueism, in 
whatever form it may assume. Be no longer betrayed by the illu- 
sive artifices of ambitious aspirants ; no longer allured by imposing 
individual issues, irrespective of principles ; no longer swayed by the 
Avorship of a man, who has publicly impeached your valor, and re- 
buked your coivardice, for shrinking from that " decisive occasion" 
which would have subjected the survivors of the conflict, to the ig- 
nominious punishment of treason, against your beloved country. 

Withdraw your confidence from those who have betrayed it — re- 
buke the intrigues of those who seek their own elevation, by making 
you, the artizansand victims of your own degradation. 
Democracy recognizes measures, not men. 

Permit me, fellow citizens, to suggest, that the only alternative left 
you, is, a re-organization of the Democratic party, upon its old and 
permanent platform. Institute a Democratic Republican Convention, 
and sift the chaff from the wheat. 

Nothing short of this, can redeem and regenerate, legitimate De- 
mocracy, from the weak and spurious connsels, which have degraded 
it to its present condition. 

Respectfully, your Fellow Citizen, 

DEXTER RANDALL 1 



APPENDIX. 



Oil the 17tli of Jannarv, my old Domocrntic or<raii, tlie Herald, aii- 
lioiinced my lortli coming work, stating, it called Dorr a discarded mem- 
ber ol" the old Federal party, and att;\cked, I\Ie&sr.s. llallett, Wright, J{an- 
tonl, (Sec. These gentlemen uill be surprised at this statement, wiien 
they see the work. I took uo notice of that article, as 1 knew its paternity, 
which had been supplied with eight iiages of ilie work sicallhiiy ])rocurfcd 
by a certain Custom-house officer, who disgraces the station he tills. 

Saturday, .January 24tli, the Herald contained the following paragraph, 
which |)ro(Uiced the following correspondence, and Irom which the i)ub- 
lic will see, to what despicable means, my young friends, have incautious- 
ly been betrayed into, hy the pernicious counsels of Dorr, and his friends, 
to prejudice the public against nic and my pamphlet : 

" \rT Dexter Randall is still engaged on liis painpldct against the Doinocracy 
of tiiis State. It is got up under llie inspecliim and review of tlie Hon Jolm 
Pitn)an, District Judge, and of the Editor of the Journal. Randall is now in 
full couiniunion with the Algerines, and will have his" reward." — Herald. 

Satukday Morning, 11 1-2, 
January 24, 18-16. 

Dear Sir, Your son has just waited on me, with a copy of the Herald of 
this morning, and called my notice to the following paragrapii : [See above.] 
Your surprise, I assure you, was no greater than my own at its contents. 
To remove every inference of the kind tlicrein alluded to, I hasten to stale, 
that I have never directly or remotely mentioned to you the sui)ject of the 
pamphlet novv in press — nor have you had from me, any intimation of its ob- 
jects or contents — that you have never been consulted, advised with, inspec- 
ted or reviewed it, or any part of it. 

The Herald paragraph is as ill-founded in regard to yourself and the Edi- 
tor of the Journal, as it is unmanly and ungenerous to myself. — For the forth- 
coming work I alone am responsilile. Neither you nor any other person has 
had, or, shall have any agency in its production. 

^Vill you have the goodness to place in my possession, a reciprocal state- 
ment, that I niay, at the proper time, authoritatively rebuke the indiscretion of 
my young and valued friends of the Herald, and chastise the impertinent insc-- 
lence o( him, whose unchastened inclinations for mischief still perpetuate iiis 
errors. 

Respetfully your obedient servant, 

DEXTER RANDALL. 

Hon. JOHU PiTMA.V. 

Providence, January 26, 1846. 

Dear Sir: — I have to thankyou foryour favor of the24ili inst. in reference 
to the statement in the Herald of Saturday last, that you were engaged in wri^ 
ting a pamphlet, under '■^ my inspection and review," in conjunction with " the 
Editor of the Journal." 

Your letter is published in the Journal of this morning and agreeably to your 
request, I now send you my " reciprocal statement " 

I had no knowledge, that you were engaged in writing or publishing any 
pamphlet, until I saw it recently announced in the Journal, in an extract from 
the Herald. I never had any interview, conversation or consultation with 
you, in reference to any such pamjildet, and have never inspected or revievierl 
a word or syllable of the same, and of its contents, I am yet ignorant. 

If this statement will be of any service to you, you are at liberty to use it aa 
you may think proper. 

I am very respectfully, Yours, 

JOHN PITMAN, 

Dexter Randall, Esq. 



100 

Saturdav, 3 o'clock, P. M., Jaii'y 5i4, 1846. 

Dear Sir, — 1 rp£ret extremely, tliat any indescretioii of my Iriends of tlie 
R(!|)iiblican Herald, for whom 1 entertain the kindest feelings, should have 
rendered il necessary (or me, to call your attention to an insidious paragraph 
in this morning's edition, relative to yourself, Judge Pitman, and the pamph- 
let therein alluded to. 

Ff you have any knowledge of the work now in press — or, have ever inter- 
changed, directly or otherwise, a word with me on the subject — or, know its 
objects or contents — or, have advised, consulted, aided, inspected or reviewed 
il, or any pari ofit -you will confer a special favor on me, to state your knowl- 
edge and agency, as I am not aware of any. 

1 am sorry to trouble you, but, in justice to you, and myself, I will thank 
3011 to place, in my liands, a true statement, that will enable me to administer 
to my young friends, lessons of greater caution and prudence, in future, and, 
at the same time, to reprove the intolerable insolence of those, whose san- 
guinary atrocities and dangerous heresies are soon to be exposed. 
Respectfully vours, 

DEXTER RANDALL. 

H. B. Anxhonv, Esq., Editor of the Journal. 



Journal Office, 
Providence, Januarv 26, 1846. 
Dexter Randall, Esq. 

Dear Sir : — Your favor of 24th inst, referring to a paragraph in the Herald, 
which charged Judge Pitman and myself, with some agency in a pamphlet 
about to be published by you, was duly received. 

In compliance with your request, I furnish you, with a statement authori- 
zing you to contradict, so far as I am concerned, the declaration of the Herald. 
I never saw the pamphlet or manuscript, or any part of either; never advised 
or counselled with you, or any other person concerning it : have neither "in- 
spected or reviewed it," and am entirely ignorant of its contents. Indeed, the 
first, and the only information, that I ever received of il, was from the an- 
nouncement in the Herald. 

Respectfully Yours, 

HENRY B. ANTHONY. 



January 27th, I addressed the following letter to the Editor of the 
Herald. Instead of complying with my request, which ordinary courtesy 
between men, and the lessons of manly reparation of injustice, taught and 
impressed upon my young friends, by an i;ouored Father, enforced, they 
yielded again to the dictation and advice of him — whose crimes, he seeks 
and controls the columns of the Democratic Herald, to palliate and con- 
ceal — and in a long article, in which Dorr represents himself as the "em- 
bodiment of the Democracy of the State," and in his characteristic style, 
of misrepresentation, unmanly re-attirms the falsehood, he had seduced 
the Herald, to announce. Let the public form its own conclusions : 

Providence, Jan'y. 27, 1846. 

My friend Wm. Simons, Editor of the Herald, 

Dear Sir : — As an act of justice to myself, Judge Pitman, and the Editor of 
the Journal, and to you, as tlie conductor of a public journal, I request you to in- 
sert in your paper my letters to Judge Pitman and the Editor of the Journal, 
contained in yesterday's copy, with the following extract,* that the antidote 
of the poison you have incauiioii-:ly administered, may be co-extensive — and 
also the following copy of Judge Pitman's Letter, and oblige your old friend,, 
Yours respectfully, 

DEXTER RANDALL. 



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